Air Vanuatu goes into liquidation

[Mattg]

Looks like Solomon Airlines will fill some of the void.

BNE-SON starts today
BNE-VLI starts next week
AKL-VLI started last week and will go from 1 to 2x weekly in July

Solomon Airlines Expands Vanuatu Service From late-May 2024 — AeroRoutes

Published at 2130GMT 29MAY24 Solomon Airlines from late-May 2024 is expanding international service at Vanuatu, with service scheduled to Auckland and Brisbane. Planned operations include the following. Port Vila – Auckland eff 20MAY24 1 weekly A320 (2 weekly from 10JUL24) IE710 VLI1725 – 214

www.aeroroutes.com

 

[openseat]

Looks like Solomon Airlines will fill some of the void.

BNE-SON starts today
BNE-VLI starts next week
AKL-VLI started last week and will go from 1 to 2x weekly in July

Solomon Airlines Expands Vanuatu Service From late-May 2024 — AeroRoutes

Published at 2130GMT 29MAY24 Solomon Airlines from late-May 2024 is expanding international service at Vanuatu, with service scheduled to Auckland and Brisbane. Planned operations include the following. Port Vila – Auckland eff 20MAY24 1 weekly A320 (2 weekly from 10JUL24) IE710 VLI1725 – 214

www.aeroroutes.com

I think they have a lot of capacity with the second A320 (ex JQ). They are restarting the BNE Munda (Western Solomon Islands) flight as well.

 

[henrus]

With VA getting approval to ramp up flights, QF groups pending approval and Solomon Airlines already launching flights (as they had the existing rights) it's almost certain that Air Vanuatu won't fly again between AU/NZ and Vanuatu.

EY was trying to sell or relaunch the airline but in the mean time it seems competitors will have almost filled the gap NF leaves behind with just domestic services yet to relaunch. News reports today say 441 people were employed and 170 are being cut, I'd say 441 is rather high for an airline with just 5 planes (all of which are props except the 737). For reference Air Calin has about the same number of staff but but has 4 wide bodies and 2 props and Fiji Airways has 2000 staff (5x the staff including training and maintenance something NF lacked) but also has a fleet of 21 (14 of which are jets).

 

[Saab34]

Virgin tweaks its schedule due to stronger demand from BNE. Which I find interesting as I thought demand would be heavy from Sydney and even Melbourne.

Virgin holds off Sydney to Vanuatu and boosts Brisbane instead

Starting 9 July, Virgin will fly every day between Brisbane and Port Vila except Thursdays, with two return services on Saturdays. The airline has seen strong demand for Brisbane–Port Vila flights since increasing frequency from two to five per week following the collapse of Air Vanuatu.

australianaviation.com.au

 

[AIRwin]

Virgin tweaks its schedule due to stronger demand from BNE. Which I find interesting as I thought demand would be heavy from Sydney and even Melbourne.

Virgin holds off Sydney to Vanuatu and boosts Brisbane instead

Starting 9 July, Virgin will fly every day between Brisbane and Port Vila except Thursdays, with two return services on Saturdays. The airline has seen strong demand for Brisbane–Port Vila flights since increasing frequency from two to five per week following the collapse of Air Vanuatu.

australianaviation.com.au

Looks like the flight on Saturday morning is scheduled to depart BNE too early to allow domestic connections from other cities except PER.

And the return flight on Saturday night is scheduled to arrive BNE too late to allow domestic connections anywhere.

 

[Harrison_133]

The Air Vanuatu 737 is off to Eastar Jet in South Korea.

Source: YJ-AV8 Air Vanuatu Boeing 737-800

 

[henrus]

The Air Vanuatu 737 is off to Eastar Jet in South Korea.

Source: YJ-AV8 Air Vanuatu Boeing 737-800

Hmmm… YJ-AV8 is a bit of a hanger queen, I hope Eastar send it back to HAECO Hong Kong for a good maintenance check first given that’s where it’s been previously maintained.

I flew on it a few years ago and despite being a sky interior it was rather well worn, I don’t think I’d ever been on a plane with such bad carpet.

 

[Saab34]

The Air Vanuatu 737 is off to Eastar Jet in South Korea.

Source: YJ-AV8 Air Vanuatu Boeing 737-800

Never heard of them, but having a look, guess who part owns them, 777 Partners!

 

[henrus]

Never heard of them, but having a look, guess who part owns them, 777 Partners!

Quite a few aircraft in the region have ended up for South Korean low cost carriers, Tway have a few ex VA aircraft.

Regarding the 777 partners I wonder if there are any odd deals regarding their 737 max aircraft.

 

[AIRwin]

Air Vanuatu has recommenced domestic services:

Air Vanuatu Sep 2024 Domestic Operations — AeroRoutes

Published at 1000GMT 06SEP24 Air Vanuatu since late-August 2024 resumed domestic operations, with ATR72 aircraft and DHC6 aircraft. Based on the airline’s schedule listing for the month of September 2024, planned operations include the following. Espiritu Santos – Gaua 1 weekly DHC6 Espiritu

www.aeroroutes.com

 

[AIRwin]

Air Vanuatu has returned to government control:

Air Vanuatu set to leave voluntary liquidation

Under a Deed of Compromise approved by the country’s Supreme Court, all shares in Air Vanuatu will be turned over to the government-owned company AV3 and the airline handed back to its management.

australianaviation.com.au