Air Vanuatu Backlog to Clear by Friday

Air Vanuatu teams are focusing on clearing the backlog of international travellers for whom flights were disrupted since Tropical Cyclone Irene passed through Vanuatu on Thursday 19th of January.

For obvious safety reasons, the airline cancelled all flights during the cyclone and has subsequently had impacted international schedules as they struggled to catch up. The schedules have focused on
returning the affected guests to their intended destinations as quickly as possible. With only one aircraft, each day that goes by it is difficult to service the normal scheduled flights and the additional
ones required for recovery of the backlog. We reached out to the partners but they had very limited aircraft to offer and we’ve not had access to as many additional planes as we would have liked. The
airline is thankful to its partners Nauru Airlines and Solomon Airlines for their assistance with some of the additional flights that were required. In addition, they express thanks to the partner airports
that provided additional flight landing times to support the recovery over the weekend. It is expected that schedules will return to normal by Friday the 27th of January.

In addition to the disruptions, the 737 experienced some minor maintenance defects requiring parts to be sourced which further delayed some of the flights.

The cyclone and the disruptions to the international schedule have taken place shortly after the DFAT-funded team arrived to do a rapid assessment of the airline, as requested by the owner of the
airline the Vanuatu Government. It is expected that the assessment will identify recommendations that will improve the operational capacity so that situations such as this one are more effectively
managed in the future. With limited aircraft and staff, the airline has had a challenging few days.

“We are doing all we can as quickly as we can and thank guests for their patience and understanding,” says Acting Chief Executive Officer Mr. Laloyer.