Air Tahiti Nui

Air Tahiti Nui is one of those airlines you don’t pick up on the side. Four aircraft, a hub in the middle of the South Pacific and a route to Europe that spans almost half the globe: if you get the tiare flower on the tail in front of your lens, you have a real rarity in your logbook. This page shows you how the airline is set up, how to recognize its Dreamliners and where you have the best chances of a sighting.

Air Tahiti Nui at a glance

Air Tahiti Nui is the international long-haul airline of French Polynesia. It was founded in October 1996 on the initiative of the Polynesian government, which still holds the large majority of the shares today; the rest is held by local investors. The mission was clear from the start: Tahiti and its islands were to get a connection of their own to the tourists’ major source markets instead of depending solely on foreign airlines.

The first scheduled flight took off in November 1998 from Papeete to Los Angeles, followed shortly after by Tokyo. In the years after, Osaka, Auckland and, in 2002, Paris were added. At times Air Tahiti Nui even flew a New York–Tahiti–Sydney connection. The financial crisis hit the small airline hard, though: in 2009 it cut New York, Osaka and Sydney, and around 2011 it was close to collapse. Only in 2015, after several loss-making years, did it return to profit – and in the same year it announced the renewal of its fleet.

The airline’s headquarters today is an office building in Faa’a right at Tahiti-Faa’a Airport, which it moved into in 2018. Before that the administration was in downtown Papeete.

Codes and callsign

• IATA code TN: appears in the flight number, on the departure board and on the ticket.
• ICAO code THT: appears in the air traffic control flight plan and on flight trackers.
• Callsign TAHITI AIRLINES: how the crew identifies itself on the radio.

For spotters, the ICAO code is the more important one. If you are waiting in Los Angeles for the arrival from Papeete, for example, the easiest way is to filter the tracker by THT. Since there are only a handful of flights per day, the list is short and easy to scan.

The route network: small but far-reaching

The Air Tahiti Nui network is manageable – but the routes are long. From Papeete, according to the airline’s own website and common reference works (as of 2026), the airline flies to these destinations:

Destination	Airport	Spotter tip
Los Angeles	LAX	Most important destination, also the stopover on the way to Paris
Paris	CDG	Only destination in Europe, connection via Los Angeles
Tokyo	NRT	In the network since the early years
Auckland	AKL	Short connection to the southwest Pacific
Sydney	SYD	Resumption announced for December 2026

Air Tahiti Nui also used to serve Osaka, New York and, for a time, Seattle; those routes have been discontinued. Feeder service within French Polynesia – for example to Bora Bora or Moorea – is flown by the separate Air Tahiti with turboprops.

Important for you in Germany: feeder service to Paris is handled by partners such as Air France or the French railway. In Europe you only see the airline’s own Dreamliners at Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport.

The record flight Papeete–Paris

In March 2020 Air Tahiti Nui made aviation history. Because of the pandemic, the usual stopover in Los Angeles was not possible, so a sparsely loaded Boeing 787-9 with the registration F-OTOA flew as flight TN64 nonstop from Papeete to Paris-Charles de Gaulle. It covered a good 15,700 kilometers in about 15 hours and 45 minutes.

Because French Polynesia belongs to France, the flight counted as the longest domestic flight in the world – and at that point was one of the longest scheduled flights of all. The record did not last long, however: in May 2020 French Bee flew a slightly longer connection from Papeete to Paris-Orly. Afterward Air Tahiti Nui temporarily made technical stops on the way to Paris, including in Pointe-à-Pitre on Guadeloupe, before the route ran via Los Angeles again.

You can read more about the longest connections in the world and why they are so technically demanding in the article on ultra-long-haul flights.

The fleet: only Boeing 787-9s

Since fall 2019, Air Tahiti Nui has flown exclusively the Boeing 787-9. The airline itself calls its aircraft the “Tahitian Dreamliner.” The fleet overview in detail:

Type	Number	Seats	Period	Spotter tip
Boeing 787-9	4	about 294 in three classes	since 2018	F-OTOA, F-ONUI, F-OMUA, F-OVAA
Airbus A340-300	5 (historic)	–	2001 to 2019	Four-engine jet, long retired
Airbus A340-200	1 (historic)	–	1998 to 2003	The airline’s first aircraft

The cabin is divided into business class (Poerava Business), premium economy and economy (Moana Economy). According to available figures, there are 30 seats in business, 32 in premium economy and 232 in economy. The Dreamliners were built by Boeing; two of them are leased from a lessor.

The aircraft carry the names of islands and personalities: known names include “Fakarava,” “Bora Bora,” “Tetiaroa” and “Tupaia” – named after a historic Tahitian navigator. The name is on the fuselage, so in good conditions you can read it even while the aircraft is on the taxiway.

From the A340 to the Dreamliner

For almost two decades the Airbus A340 was the face of Air Tahiti Nui. It started in 1998 with a leased A340-200; from 2001 the larger A340-300 took over the network. For the long stretches over water in the Pacific, the four-engine jet was an obvious choice at the time.

In 2015 the airline announced it would replace its five A340-300s with four Boeing 787-9s. The Dreamliners arrived in 2018 and 2019, and the last A340 flight took place in September 2019. Several of the old four-engine jets were stored in the Arizona desert afterward. With one aircraft fewer, the airline has since flown a similar network – possible because the 787-9 is more economical and has more range.

If you are sorting old photos: Air Tahiti Nui pictures with four engines all date from before fall 2019. The difference between the A340 and the similar-looking A330 is explained in the article A330 or A340?.

How to recognize Air Tahiti Nui

The current livery came in 2018 with the first Dreamliner. At its core is a revised logo that the airline presented in April 2018 and that was created together with a branding agency and the artist Alexander Lee. At the center is the tiare flower, the national flower of Tahiti, which sits large on the tail.

On the fuselage, several shades of blue dominate, standing for ocean, lagoon and sky. Added to that are patterns inspired by traditional Polynesian tattoos. On the fuselage you will also find the flag of French Polynesia and the name of the aircraft. Which elements typically make up a livery is shown in the guide Livery design explained.

Partners instead of an alliance

Air Tahiti Nui belongs to none of the three major alliances – neither Star Alliance nor oneworld or SkyTeam. For an airline with four aircraft, a dense partner network is vital all the same, and that is why it relies on numerous codeshare agreements. Partners include Air France, Air New Zealand, Aircalin from New Caledonia, Japan Airlines, Qantas, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines and Delta. Unusually, there is also an agreement with the French railway SNCF so that travelers can reach Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport by TGV.

For spotters this means: on departure boards in Paris or Los Angeles, an Air Tahiti Nui flight can also appear under other airlines’ flight numbers. What matters for your sighting, however, is always who actually operates the flight – and the ICAO code THT in the tracker tells you. How the major alliances work is explained in the overview Star Alliance, oneworld and SkyTeam.

Where you can spot Air Tahiti Nui

Outside Tahiti there are only a few places where you see the airline regularly. The best chances:

• Los Angeles (LAX): The most important destination; the flights from Papeete land here and the Paris connection makes its stopover here. Classic spots such as Imperial Hill or the parking lot at In-N-Out Burger offer a good view of the approaches. More tips in the plane spotting guide for Los Angeles and on the page for Los Angeles Airport.
• Paris-Charles de Gaulle (CDG): The only chance in Europe. How best to go about it there is in the plane spotting guide for Paris-CDG.
• Tokyo-Narita (NRT): In the network since the early years. At Tokyo-Narita Airport, the hill Sakura no Yama is a popular spot.
• Auckland (AKL): Short Pacific route, easy to combine with Air New Zealand sightings.

Long-haul flights have typical arrival and departure windows in Europe. How to plan for them in Paris is shown in the article When long-haul flights land and depart in Europe.

Common mix-ups

• Confusing Air Tahiti Nui with Air Tahiti – Air Tahiti flies turboprops between the islands, Air Tahiti Nui flies long-haul.
• Confusing Air Tahiti Nui with French Bee – French Bee also flies Paris–Papeete, but from Orly, with Airbus A350s and in a blue-and-white look without the tiare flower.
• Taking the 787 for an A350 – the missing dark cockpit mask gives away the 787.
• Confusing the 787-9 with the 787-10 – Air Tahiti Nui flies only the middle version; the differences are shown on the page for the Boeing 787-10.
• Filing old A340 photos under the current fleet – the airline has had no four-engine jets since 2019.
• Equating the partner flight number with the operating airline – THT in the tracker shows that Air Tahiti Nui is really flying.

Conclusion

Air Tahiti Nui is small but a real highlight: four Boeing 787-9s, one of the most striking liveries in the Pacific and a connection to Paris that has made record history. Because the airline does not land in Germany, you need a trip to Paris or a journey to the US West Coast, Japan or New Zealand. In return, every sighting is something special – and with only four registrations you can actually collect the complete fleet.