Concern over poor airport immigration service

It is refreshing to see new government plans released this week to upgrade Port Vila’s Bauerfield Airport with inclusion of a new International Terminal to accommodate increased flights

including long haul flights as part of plans to improve the country’s tourism industry. But there are concerns that the government must first do something about the immigration service at the airport for international flights.

On Sunday, December 11, only one immigration officer was on hand at Port Vila’s Bauerfield Airport to serve passengers arriving from Nadi, Fiji, on Fiji Airway’s flight FJ 621.

This was not an isolated incident as there had been numerous complaints about similar incidents in the past including times when there were no immigration officers at all and the passengers had to wait for some time before the immigration officers arrived.

The sole immigration officer on duty at that time served resident Vanuatu passengers while other countries’ passengers were left waiting. Luckily the flight was by Fiji’s Airway’s ATR72 plane and there were about 20 resident passengers while the longer queue of about 50 international passengers had to wait until the immigration officer completed Vanuatu queue before serving them.

When asked why there was only one officer on duty, the immigration officer responded that the Immigration Department’s driver was sick as a result other officers on duty were not picked up.

On board the flight were senior Vanuatu Government officers who clearly were unhappy at seeing such a poor service. One of them later said he had complained to the Head of the Immigration Department about the incident.

One international passenger humbly stated with a wry smile: “It is Christmas,” when apology was made about the situation.