Passengers stranded as international airline goes bust

The newly-appointed voluntary liquidators of Air Vanuatu don’t yet know how long stranded passengers will have to wait for re-booked flights.

Morgan Kelly, Justin Walsh and Andrew Hanson of Ernst and Young Australia were appointed as voluntary liquidators after the Vanuatu government placed the airline into liquidation.

They will conduct safety and maintenance checks before resuming normal operations.

“We have to ground the fleet to make sure the fleet’s compliant with international regulations,” Kelly told Today.

“We’re going to reach out to all affected travellers today and try to rebook them as soon as possible.”

Kelly said the liquidation team had arrived in Vanuatu yesterday.

“Certainly this has happened very, very quickly,” he said.

But he admitted he was not sure at this stage how many would-be travellers had been affected, nor how long it would be before they could resume their journey.

“Air Vanuatu is critical to the people of the Republic of Vanuatu and a strategically important business to the nation,” Kelly said in an earlier statement.

“Our team is working closely with management to ensure continuity of service to customers and to ensure services continue as seamlessly as possible.

“The outlook for the airline is positive, despite pressures on the broader industry, and we will be focused on securing the future of this strategically vital national carrier.

The first meeting of creditors will be scheduled shortly.