“Everybody is complaining, it’s not good. Don’t book Air Vanuatu.” Those were the words of a taxi driver in March as he pulled away from Vanuatu’s Bauerfield international airport and headed into the heart of Port Vila, the oceanside capital of the Pacific island country.
Two months later and the frequent cancellations and delays that had become synonymous with the national carrier over the past year have given way to a government announcement that Air Vanuatu is in voluntary liquidation. In a country where 48% of gross domestic product is derived from tourism, business owners fear tourism will bear the brunt of the airline’s grounding.
