Four Airlines Swoop on Australia-Vanuatu Routes

Virgin Australia, Qantas, Jetstar and Solomon Airlines are all adding flights from Australia to Vanuatu, filling the void left by the recent collapse of Air Vanuatu.

Prior to the liquidation of Vanuatu’s national carrier in early May 2024, Air Vanuatu and Virgin Australia were the only airlines flying between Australia and the Pacific Island nation.

Virgin previously flew four times weekly from Brisbane to Port Vila, Vanuatu’s capital city. Air Vanuatu flew the remaining services from Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne to Port Vila and Espiritu Santo.

Even before that airline’s collapse, Air Vanuatu’s schedules were unreliable because it only had one jet aircraft. Unfortunately, that plane recently had regular maintenance issues.

Virgin Australia increasing flights from Australia to Port Vila

In the aftermath of Air Vanuatu’s collapse, Virgin Australia almost immediately added a fifth weekly flight from Brisbane to Port Vila. This will increase to seven weekly flights in July.

The International Air Services Commission has granted Virgin rights to operate an additional seven weekly flights from Australia to Vanuatu. Virgin said in its application that it plans to use some of that extra allocation to launch 3-5x weekly Sydney-Port Vila flights, but those flights haven’t (yet) eventuated.

Extra flights to Vanuatu can’t come soon enough as Virgin’s flights between Australia and Vanuatu are currently extremely full. Almost every flight at the moment is departing without any empty seats.

You can book seats on the Virgin Australia flights using Velocity Frequent Flyer points. In fact, flights from Brisbane to Port Vila are a great use of Velocity Points as they only cost 11,800 points in Economy or 23,500 points in Business Class (plus taxes & carrier charges).

Qantas to fly from Brisbane to Port Vila

Qantas will launch 3x weekly flights from Brisbane to Port Vila on 10 September 2024 using Boeing 737-800 aircraft. The airline may increase this to 5x weekly flights during peak periods, using QantasLink Embraer E190s for the additional flights.

These flights are on sale from today. Classic Reward seats are available for just 12,000 Qantas Points in Economy or 27,600 Qantas Points in Business, one-way, plus taxes & charges.

Jetstar adding flights from Sydney to Port Vila

Jetstar too is adding services to Vanuatu, launching four weekly Sydney-Port Vila flights from 12 December 2024. The Jetstar Airbus A321neo LR will operate the route.

Jetstar will be the only low-cost carrier flying from Australia to Vanuatu. To celebrate the route launch, Jetstar has launched a 24-hour sale with flights available from Sydney to Port Vila from just $358 return.

You can also redeem Qantas Frequent Flyer points for seats on the Jetstar flights to Vanuatu.

Solomon Islands adds flights to Espiritu Santo

Solomon Airlines, the national carrier of the Solomon Islands, has also stepped in with flights from Brisbane to Vanuatu.

From next week (starting 4 July 2024), Solomon Airlines will operate a weekly direct service from Brisbane to Espiritu Santo every Thursday. The return flight from Espiritu Santo to Brisbane will operate via Port Vila.

Solomon Airlines and Fiji Airways also offer one-stop services from Australia to Vanuatu via their respective home airports in Honiara and Nadi.

Matt Graham

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 80 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include economics, aviation & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.