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Qantas’ inaugural service to Vanuatu has touched down in Port Vila.
Flight QF159 arrived from Brisbane at 3pm local time aboard the 737-800 VH-VZU. The Flying Kangaroo will operate three times per week on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays between Brisbane and Port Vila, with Jetstar to commence four weekly flights on 12 December.
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Between Qantas and Jetstar, the two services are expected to create more than 150,000 annual seats between Australia and Vanuatu.
“We are thrilled to expand our network with the introduction of direct flights between Brisbane and Port Vila,” Qantas International CEO Cam Wallace said.
“This new route will maintain connectivity between Australia and the South Pacific, opening new opportunities for leisure and business travel to the region.”
Brisbane Airport CEO Gert-Jan de Graaff said the new service “reinforces Brisbane Airport’s role as Australia’s Pacific hub”.
“The service offers Queenslanders an easy escape to paradise on our doorstep,” he said.
“It also provides the growing number of people from Vanuatu now living in Queensland, particularly those working in the agricultural sector, with direct access to home and family.”
The International Air Services Commission (IASC) in June awarded the Flying Kangaroo 1,798 seats of capacity per week between Australia and Vanuatu, which Qantas plans to fly with a mixture of its own 737-800s, wet leased Alliance E190s, and Jetstar’s A321neos.
This puts it in direct competition with Virgin Australia, which has had the route largely to itself since the collapse of Vanuatu flag carrier Air Vanuatu, and increased its existing flights from Brisbane to Port Vila in June. Solomon Airlines began operating services from Brisbane to Santo, returning via Port Vila, in July.
Air Vanuatu went into voluntary liquidation in May owing at least $99 million, according to its liquidator Ernst & Young.
Prior to its collapse, the airline code-shared with Qantas on daily flights from Sydney to Port Vila, four flights per week from Brisbane to Port Vila, and three flights per week from Melbourne to Port Vila, as well as weekly services from Brisbane to Santo operated for Air Vanuatu by Solomon Airlines.
It resumed limited charter flights with its ATR 72-600 last month, flying from Port Vila to Santo and Tana, though had to briefly halt them for maintenance.
Air Vanuatu has also resumed its partnership for ticket sales through Vanuatu Post Limited (VPL), said liquidator Morgan Kelly.
“The ATR scheduled charter flights, along with the expanded ticketing options through VPL, represents another step towards improving the customer experience and making travel arrangements more convenient for both residents and visitors of Vanuatu,” he said.
“We’d like to thank VPL for their continued support, as we work in partnership to restore this critical part of the country’s infrastructure.”
No date has yet been set for the resumption of Air Vanuatu’s international flights. Its sole jet aircraft, a leased 737-800, has not flown since January.
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says:These additional services to Vila may well be great for the country and the punters but their national airline with their single B737-800 grounded since January may have grave difficulty recovering both commercially and financially. To me, there many unanswered questions, why?