Virgin Australia to resume Port Vila flights in March 2023

The airline will only be connecting Port Vila and Brisbane, with connections available from Sydney as well as other domestic Australian markets via Brisbane.

The airline had been servicing Port Vila from Brisbane 5 times a week but stopped since COVID-19 border restrictions.

More overseas airlines needed to bring tourists: Resort owner

Vanuatu needs more international airlines to fly into Port Vila as an additional option to bring more tourists into the country.

Eratap Resort owner, Tony Pittar, told Daily Post that in his opinion, the country cannot continue to rely on Air Vanuatu, which only has one Boeing 737-800.

Pittar says tourists want choice when it comes to choosing who to fly with into Vanuatu.

Recently, Air Vanuatu Chief Executive Officer Atu Finau met with the private sector and announced the airline’s plans to increase the number of aircraft in the current fleet, particularly to double what they currently have.

Pittar, who has experienced a high number of bookings since the border reopened, says it would be great the airline’s plans eventuate; as it would bring more tourists to Vanuatu if the airfares remain competitive.

However, the Resort owner says Air Vanuatu needs to be reliable as it has many problems such as lack of pilots, no proper management, constant schedule changes, lack of in-flight service and poor communication which are causing huge problems for the tourism industry in Vanuatu.