PORT VILA – Despite the suspension of flights by Air New Zealand and Qantas, Solomon Airlines has announced it will continue to fly in and out of the international airport at Port Vila as normal.

Air New Zealand has stopped flying to Bauerfield because of concerns over the state of the runway although Virgin, Air Vanuatu and Fiji Airways say they will continue to operate.

Vanuatu was holding a general election on Friday when Air New Zealand announced it would stop flying to Port Vila because of safety concerns and this prompted Qantas to immediately follow suit.

Radio New Zealand report Solomon Airlines’ Gus Kraus saying the airline has conducted a review of the runway and concluded conditions were safe for its Airbus A320 to fly in and out.

He said the airline will continue to monitor the situation and has urged the authorities in Port Vila to take the necessary steps to upgrade the runway.

“We are working very closely with our Melanesian aviation colleagues and codeshare partner Air Vanuatu in Port Vila and have also received information from the Director of Civil Aviation in Vila that gives us some comfort in our decision although we will continue to monitor the situation and act on any changed circumstances.”

The chairman of the Hotel and Resorts Association in Vanuatu Bryan Death said Air New Zealand’s suspension of flights into the country is a blow for tourism because of the negative publicity it has created.

But Death said the impact is minimal because it is not yet the high season and Air New Zealand is only running one flight a week.

He said operators have been receiving cancellations but they are advising tourists to rebook on other airlines which are still operating.

He said the aviation authorities in Vanuatu are working hard to make the runway safe.

Death said he understands it could take at least another two months for an immediate fix to the runway and a full overlay will be completed this year.

“If we can get the works done that need to be done to get Air New Zealand back up here to sign off on the runway, and we can do that while there’s only the one flight a week, then we can mitigate the damage.”

Death said Air New Zealand’s promotions and hot pricing have helped to push the New Zealand market share up to about 18 per cent of total visitors to Vanuatu.

Last year, the World Bank announced a concessional loan of US$59.5 million dollars for the upgrade of Bauerfield International Airport in Port Vila but the deal has stalled – although the proposal is understood to still be on the table.

Death said a team from the World Bank will be in the capital within days to assess the
situation.

“We’re putting a lot of pressure on. We have had communication from the World Bank. They’ll be flying a team in over the coming week and I’m sure that the offer on the table will be renegotiated and we’re very hopeful that will lead to the full overlay of the runway, to be completed this year.”

Vanuatu Civil Aviation Authority says it had no warning about Air New Zealand’s decision to suspend flights to Port Vila.

The Authority concedes that the runway is urgently due a resurfacing or repair.

- RNZI