Second ATR72 aircraft for Air Vanuatu arrives

Air Vanuatu’s latest addition to its fleet, an ATR72-500 aircraft, touched down at Bauerfield Airport in Port Vila at 5pm Wednesday after a flight from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, that took the crew and plane to Bali in Indonesia, Darwin and Cairns in Australia and on to Port Vila.

Close to 100 people including the shareholders, members of the Board of Directors and senior executives of Air Vanuatu Operations Limited, (AVOL), and invited guests including government ministers, senior officials of Airports Vanuatu Limited, senior government officials and representatives of the tourism industry were on hand at the airport to welcome the plane.

Present were the shareholders of AVOL – Prime Minister Joe Natuman, Finance Minister Maki Simelum, and Foreign Affairs Minister Sato Kilman, and the Chairman of the Board of Air Vanuatu Johnson Naviti.

Prime Minister Natuman

announced that the plane has been named Betty Emma after the first woman who was from Whitesands, Tanna, whose name is synonymous with the start of the aviation industry in these islands in the early 1960s. Betty Emma was chosen by the chiefs on Tanna to be the first person to fly in the new plane that was brought in by Australian Bob Paul and pilot Paul Burton in those very early years of air travel in the then New Hebrides.

Speaking at the occasion Wednesday, the Chief Executive Office of Air Vanuatu, Joseph Laloyer, said Wednesday marked another milestone for AVOL with the arrival of another ATR72-500.

He then went on to detail the history of AVOL over the 27 years it has been in operating starting with their first charter flight on December 20, 1987 on a leased Boeing 727-200 aircraft to the arrival of their second ATR72-500 Wednesday evening.

“AVOL’s humble beginnings started with a once-a-week flight to Sydney, followed by a weekly flight from Brisbane in 1988. Melbourne and Auckland followed in 1989 using a leased aircraft from Qantas,” Laloyer continued.

In 1998, the airline leased its own aircraft, a Boeing 737-300 and increased services to Sydney and Brisbane. In 2004, an ATR42 aircraft joined their fleet, enabling Air Vanuatu to expand services to Santo and Tanna, which saw an increase in visitor numbers to those islands, CEO Laloyer said.

“Santo became the emerging tourist destination in 2007 and with the demand AVOL began direct service from Brisbane to the northern island,” he recalled.

“Business quickly grew and by 2008, AVOL had outgrown the ATR42 and signed a purchase agreement for a brand new ATR72. The same year, we began operating our new Boeing 737-800, painted in unique livery ensuring the jet gained much attention at every spot she files.”

Laloyer told those present at the welcome ceremony that the future looked bright for everyone with the addition of this latest ATR72 and it’s the first time they have had to add to the fleet rather than replace aging aircraft, “and that is a statement in itself”.

He said the level of invest with this second ATR72-500 represented a total amount of $US13.4-million or around Vt1.5 billion, a spare part engine in excess of $US500,000 or about Vt70 million worth of spare parts.

CEO Laloyer expressed the gratitude of the company to its stakeholders including the Government and the Parliament of Vanuatu, the tourism industry, the chairman and the governor of the Reserve Bank of Vanuatu, and the three airline shareholders.

He especially thanked Bred Bank Paris “in particular Mr. Yves Jacquot who was instrumental in the purchase of the first ATR72-500 as well as the second one through commitment, trust and confidence in AVOL, Bred Bank Vanuatu, particularly Darryl Constantin to facilitate, support and commitment to both aircraft purchase as well as continuous financial support for the airline”.

Laloyer acknowledged the AVOL staff in general for their contribution and donor partners New Zealand and Australia for their commitment in the tourism industry.

“Finally, let’s all work together to develop and upgrade our infrastructures moving forward to assist and facilitate the development of aviation in Vanuatu, our tourism industry and the air transport in general,” he appealed.