New recovery plan for Air Vanuatu
15.01.2021 – 20:18 UTC
An urgent recovery plan for Air Vanuatu (NF, Port Vila) is to be presented to shareholders and the airline’s board by January 15 by newly-appointed Chief Executive Officer Atu Finau, who only assumed office last week.
In preparation, Finau was studying the airline’s financial position, reviewing decisions made on fleet acquisitions, re-examining all aspects of domestic flight operations, and seeking ways to cut costs, including likely retrenchments, reported The Daily Post. Tongan born Finau, who replaced former chief executive Joseph Laloyer, is not new to the airline, having served as General Manager Engineering between 2011 and 2014.
He said the airline was facing financial challenges arising from “ambitious decision-making” that pre-dated the pandemic. “In planning for recovery, we will closely examine our present financial position and determine ways to lower cost. This will include reviewing and resizing personnel numbers, property-, plant- and equipment costs, and discarding non-value generating assets that may have some disposal value.”
The size of the workforce should reflect the airline’s reduced operations, he said, which was currently limited to domestic and…
Air Vanuatu secures $5.3m gov’t guarantee
30.11.2020 – 13:21 UTC
The government of the South Pacific Ocean island nation of Vanuatu has agreed to provide guarantees of VUV592.3 million vatu (USD5.3 million) to its national carrier Air Vanuatu (NF, Port Vila).
The guarantee, tabled in parliament by Finance Minister Johnny Koanapo on November 17, would cover aircraft insurance and leases for its sole B737-800 YJ-AV8 (msn 42052) from Air Lease Corporation; a single ATR72-600 YJ-AV73 (c/n 1358) from Nordic Aviation Capital (in maintenance); and one DHC-6-300 YJ-RV10 (c/n 679) leased from Capstone Aviation LLC. It would also enable the return to service of the ATR72-600. The airline owns another two DHC-6-300s, YJ-AV11 (c/n 564) and YJ-AV12 (c/n 673), according to the ch-aviation fleets ownership module. The guarantee proposal was seconded by Infrastructure and Public Utilities Minister, Jay Ngwele, and supported by Prime Minister Bob Loughman.
The government in October agreed to provide VUV200 million vatu (USD1.8 million) to help Air Vanuatu meet its obligations to Airbus (AIB, Toulouse Blagnac) for the planned purchase of four A220s (2x A220-100…
Vanuatu gov’t provides cash for A220s amid deal probe
22.10.2020 – 12:13 UTC
The Government of Vanuatu has agreed to provide an additional VUV200 million vatus (USD1.8 million) to Air Vanuatu (NF, Port Vila) to help the state-owned carrier meet its obligations to Airbus (AIB, Toulouse Blagnac) for the planned purchase of four A220s. However, the government also wants to probe the order and trim it down to two units.
“This is something that the government wants to establish a Commission of Inquiry to understand why the previous board of Air Vanuatu took such a decision to commit the government of Vanuatu to four aircraft without consideration to economic factors, financial, technical factors such as its engines and certificates,” Minister of Finance and Economic Management Johnny Koanapo told the Daily Post newspaper.
Koanapo underlined that the government would prefer to take only two A220s instead of four previously planned. The aircraft would operate predominantly domestically, where there is strong demand. The minister stated that Airbus has agreed to “focus on two aircraft first”.
Under the existing agreement, Air Vanuatu will add two A220-100s and two…
