Samoa Tourism Australia and NZ Trade Updates
29 April 2021Tourism Supports Betio Anti-Litter Campaign
29 April 2021
AVL congratulates the Efate community on the respect shown to the suspension of travel declared by the National Disaster Management Office (NDMO) last week. Such short-term shutdowns of public travel have been widely used as a tool to limit any potential spread of Covid-19 elsewhere in the world and AVL is grateful to the NDMO and our Health authorities for their prompt handling of the situation.
Jason Rakau, CEO of AVL commented, “During this period, AVL maintained airport operations as flights were still permitted for cargo purposes and to bring passengers to Efate, under the direction of the Vanuatu Civil Aviation Authority. As planned, flights resumed last Thursday after the NDMO and the Ministry of Health determined the risk of community transmission had been eliminated. We enjoyed seeing the resumption of full passenger services on Thursday and continuing AVL’s role in facilitating air travel, which enables us all to connect”.
March 2021’s passenger results
Domestic passenger movements for March are down 21% on the same month last year.
| International air travel continues to operate in a limited capacity under the direction of the NDMO. International passenger movements for March are down 84% on the same month last year, when borders officially closed. |
| Rowland Kalsong, Group Head of Operations commented, “The Covid-19 crisis began to unfold during March last year, therefore this is the first month that will see some sort of annualised impact. Our borders closed on 26th March 2020 and the impact on international travel has obviously been profound. Domestic operations resumed relatively quickly during April and received a boost in December, with the return of Air Vanuatu’s ATR aircraft. Domestic traffic has now stabilized and is following the seasonal pattern of previous years, albeit with lower passenger throughput, reflecting ongoing economic uncertainty and the absence of international visitors travelling on domestic services. AVL is committed to maintaining safe and compliant airport operations at our three airports, enabling our airline partners to service and support our community’s ongoing need to travel and connect”. Ends |
(Source: Media Release 28 April 2021: March results )
