Stranded Air Vanuatu passengers have few options except to await decisions

Photo: Hilaire Bule

A Northland couple stranded in Vanuatu by the national airline’s financial woes say they are frustrated and just want to go home.

Tony and Marion Maidment, of Kerikeri, have spent the week booking replacement flights only to have them cancelled again at the last minute.

They say no one is taking responsibility or telling them what is happening – but they have been told to expect an announcement from Air Vanuatu at 2pm today.

Air Vanuatu has cancelled all of its international flights until Sunday, leaving passengers stranded.

Ernst & Young Australia has been appointed as voluntary liquidator and is hoping to get the airline flying again as soon as possible.

The couple was supposed to fly home on Monday after a 10-day holiday, mostly on the northern island of Espiritu Santo.

However, when they arrived at Santo airport for their 9am Air Vanuatu connecting flight back to the capital, Port Vila, they were told all flights had been cancelled.

Minutes later they were told there were three flights but they were all full.

Tony Maidment said after he kicked up a fuss they were put on a 20-seater plane to Port Vila, departing at 11am.

He believed Air Vanuatu’s only large aircraft was stranded in a Melbourne workshop.

The couple had since been put up at Iririki resort near Port Vila and issued with flight disruption tokens, which covered their food and accommodation costs – but that lasted only until Thursday.

They had spent an extra three hours in Santo airport and two in Port Vila airport on Monday.

“Airports here are not the sort of places you want to hang around in, they’re very hot, sticky and basic.”

Maidment said they were happy to fly with another airline and claim it on their travel insurance.

The problem was, everyone stranded on the island was trying to do exactly the same thing.

“It’s a big crowd. There’s a lot of people here, mainly Aussies, just trying to get home,” he said.

Getting home was trickier for the New Zealanders because they had to fly via Australia or Fiji.

Maidment said he had booked a replacement flight to Auckland later on Monday, but that was also cancelled.

On Thursday he finally managed to book a flight at Air Vanuatu’s Port Vila office, which was due to leave later that day using a Solomon Airlines aircraft.

They would have flown via Melbourne and landed in Auckland at 5am today.

Just two hours after securing the booking, they were making their way to the reception to get to the airport.

“We saw a big crowd, all the Aussies were there, and they said, ‘Air Vanuatu has suspended all flights. Everything’s stopped’. And that was within two or three hours of having a flight organised to go home – and now we’re in limbo again,” he said.

“We’re frustrated. We’re not getting any information and everyone’s making sure they’re not getting involved.”

Maidment said his first inkling the airline was in trouble came when he checked the flight schedule online and saw cancellation after cancellation.

“You could see something was going to happen,” he said.

“We just want to get home. My wife’s not dealing with it very well and I’m running out of medication. We have to go to the medical centre in Port Vila – I’d brought enough for two weeks, in case we had any delays.”

Fortunately, their dog was being well looked after in a kennel in Ōkaihau, and at least it was warm in Vanuatu with the high humidity at the start of their trip starting to fall.

The Vanuatu Daily Post is reporting the liquidators took control of the business yesterday and the fleet had been grounded to allow them to conduct safety and maintenance checks before normal operations resume.

Ernst & Young said it intended to resume normal trading as soon as possible, while considering all opportunities to place the carrier on a stronger footing.

It said travellers would be rebooked on flights as soon as operations resumed.

Passengers advised to ‘sit tight’

Executive director of New Zealand’s Board of Airline Representatives Cath O’Brien earlier said it was still an emerging situation.

She recommended passengers should sit tight, await news from the airline or the administrators, and not travel to the airport.

At present flights operated to and from Auckland to Port Vila as well as Brisbane, which were operated by Virgin Australia on behalf of Air Vanuatu.

She said it was too soon to predict if other airlines might step in.

It was sad Air Vanuatu was faced with such challenges, O’Brien said.

“Operating an airline is a really complex and high cost business.”

The costs of leasing and the maintenance of aircraft and paying for fuel and sustaining a stead flow of income were difficult.

Independent airline commentator Irene King said Air New Zealand or an Australian carrier were likely to step in to bring stranded passengers home from Vanuatu.

King said other airlines had stepped in to help before.

Concern over petrol on flight

In regards to a Newshub report on Thursday that a chainsaw and a container of petrol were loaded onto a flight from Christchurch to Sydney and it was not picked up by security screening she said she wanted to know how it could have happened.

“Fuel is obviously a dangerous good and the reason it’s a dangerous good is because it’s combustible so we cannot have fuel sources that could ignite.”

The breakdown had occurred during the screening process in Christchurch. It was not picked up until the flight reached Australia and officials there picked it up before it took off for another destination.

“Airlines absolutely rely on Avsec (Aviation Security) to be doing its job to screen baggage to make sure it’s safe for travel and of course airlines always ask passengers don’t take dangerous goods or pack them appropriately.”

The Newshub report said an inquiry had been held by Avsec and the staff member involved was undergoing more training.

Civil Aviation is also looking into the incident.

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