On the eve of the Easter holiday period, Air Vanuatu has pushed back the recommencement of flights between Vanuatu and Australia and New Zealand until at least “mid-next week”.
[UPDATED 6pm AEST, 5 April 2023]
Air Vanuatu announced on Monday that the Boeing 737 that flies between the Aussie east coast (and Auckland) and Port Vila would be grounded in Australia until it received urgent mechanical parts.
While those parts have now been sourced, the carrier says the aircraft won’t be ready to fly by its initial forecast return this weekend.
In the meantime, the carrier has organised some flights with other Pacific airlines to fly Aussie and Kiwi travellers home from Port Vila. It is also working to arrange extra services as required. All flights will be fully ticketed.
NF says reservation staff are also scheduled to work over the Easter weekend to further assist travellers.
“Air Vanuatu is working as quickly as possible to get its guests where they need to go,” an airline spokesperson said.
“Safety is of course our number one priority, and we look forward to greeting travellers on board next week once flights are restarted with our signature warm Pacific welcome.”
Air Vanuatu has advised travel agents and their clients to check the airline’s website for up-to-date information.
For passengers wishing to change or cancel flights, the airline is offering fully flexible tickets and full refunds.
Travellers should contact their ticketing agent or the airline for more information regarding their booking.
“Unforeseen event”
“We are deeply sorry for the disruption, and we appreciate the frustration this has caused and continues to cause our guests, especially around the Easter and school holidays travel period,” Air Vanuatu chief commercial officer Greg Wilson said.
“This event was unforeseen, and we are working our hardest to accommodate guests in Port Vila to return home and to get holidaymakers rescheduled on other services so they can enjoy their planned Vanuatu adventure.
“We will share further updates via our website as they are known, and hope to announce the resumption of services as soon as we can.”
Last week, Virgin Australia relaunched nonstop services between Australia and Vanuatu.
