Chief executive officer of the national carrier Joseph Laloyer has announced Air Vanuatu and Qantas will resume their codeshare partnership on Port Vila flights from 15 June.
The news has been overwhelmingly welcomed by the tourism industry in Vanuatu as a necessary step forward to increasing destination marketing in Australia and beyond.
“Qantas has been a long term and important partner of Air Vanuatu’s,” Mr Laloyer said.
“From codeshare agreements to maintenance contracts, marketing to ground services, their partnership is our most valued and respected.”
Mr Laloyer said Qantas would resume selling flights from Sydney and Brisbane to Port Vila with connections from other Australian ports.
“They also intend to use new imagery to support holiday packages to the outer islands as well.”
Qantas has been codesharing on the Brisbane to Santo flights for sometime. Today’s announcement comes after the signing of contracts for Bauerfield airport upgrades.
Bryan Death, chairman of the Vanuatu Hotels and Resorts Association said the return of the codeshare should result in an immediate boost to arrival figures from Australia.
“This is the news we have been waiting on and it couldn’t have come at a better time with the current destination marketing campaign running in Australia,” he said.
Mr. Laloyer said Air Vanuatu was grateful for the patience and understanding of Qantas and the tourism industry in Vanuatu.
“We look forward to welcoming our first Qantas passengers back to Port Vila on 15 June,” he said,
Photo: Mr Laloyer aboard one of Air Vanuatu’s aircraft
Media inquiries: Tiffany Carroll telephone Vanuatu +678 7747153, Australia +61417512233 or tcarroll@airvanuatu.vu
(Source: Air Vanuatu Press Release June 2017)
