Air Vanuatu adds wet lease capacity to meet demands

Air Vanuatu has wet-leased a Twin Otter DHC-6-300 from Solomon Airlines to meet the demands following the cyclone as Air Vanuatu’s DHC-3-600 are currently grounded. The aircraft was ferried from Honiara to Port Vila's Bauerfield International Airport and began operations for Air Vanuatu from April 10.

The aircraft is on wet lease for two months.

Gus Kraus, CEO, Solomon Airlines said: ““Vanuatu is a Pacific neighbour and Air Vanuatu a valued partner airline. They have asked for our help during this crisis and we will do our utmost to assist them. We are seeing renewed and more comprehensive partnerships with our neighbouring Pacific Islands and other national carriers in our region, and as such in good times and in difficult times we can maximise opportunities and provide support to each other."

Meanwhile Air Vanuatu has wet leased a B737 from Air Nauru as the airline awaits spares for its grounded B737-800 in Brisbane since March 31. The airline anticipates that the aircraft should be airborne by this weekend. Till then Pacific partner airlines would continue to cover for the B737-800, the airline said in a statement.

Nauru Airlines has been operating at least roundtrip a day between Port Vila and Brisbane using a B737-300 from April 2. Nauru Airlines is also housing Air Vanuatu's grounded B737-800 at their Brisbane hangar.

The airline has so far incurred losses of $1.4 million following the grounding of its sole B737-800. The losses were calculated on the basis of ticket revenue on cancelled flights to Australia and New Zealand since the grounding that coincided with Easter school holidays.

In addition to the cost of refunded tickets and wet lease expenses, Air Vanuatu will also cover the accommodation costs of stranded passengers in Vanuatu.