Air Vanuatu enters administration as flights are cancelled

Air Vanuatu has reportedly collapsed with 22 flights cancelled or delayed and hundreds of passengers stranded.

The airline, which is based out of Port Vila in Vanuatu’s capital, has reportedly entered administration.

Air Vanuatu cancelled 20 flights across the pacific from Wednesday to Saturday, including services to and from Sydney, Brisbane and Auckland.

Two flights arriving from and departing to Noumea have also had their times changed.

The airline blamed ‘extended maintenance requirements’ on its aircraft for the disruptions.

Air Vanuatu was placed in voluntary administration on Monday, local media The Vanuatu Daily Post reported.

Consulting firm Ernst & Young has reportedly been asked to deal with the company. 

One traveller from New Zealand said he and his wife had been stranded on Vanuatuan island Espiritu Santo with other Air Vanuatu passengers.

‘We’ve heard nothing at all, except [the flights] have all been cancelled,’ he told the NZ Herald. 

It comes after the collapse of Australian budget airline Bonza, which entered voluntary administration last Tuesday.

Happier times for Bonza crew when Pink fans flew into Townsville from all across Queensland for the singer’s shows in March

The company has appointed external administrators Hall Chadwick, who say the move will allow ‘an independent insolvency practitioner to take control of the company’, during which creditors’ claims will be put on hold. 

Federal Transport Minister Catherine King said a hotline had been set up for affected passengers but admitted the chances of Bonza resuming operations was small. 

The airline claimed that refunds would be processed within 21 days. 

In a statement, Bonza revealed the leases to its planes had been unexpectedly terminated because it had defaulted on its loans the previous month.

More to come