Fiji Airways Sends Boeing 737 To Pick Up Stranded Fijians In Vanuatu

While the South Pacific comprises hundreds of islands and dozens of nations, it is a really tight-knit brotherhood of people whose first instinct is to look after each other. That came out on Friday when Fiji Airways announced it would fly home free any Fijians stranded in Vanuatu following the collapse of Air Vanuatu on Thursday.

A quick and simple solution

Fiji Airways moved quickly last week to implement immediate measures to bring home any Fijian Nationals affected by Air Vanuatu’s grounding of its flights and filing for insolvency. On Thursday, Air Vanuatu suddenly announced it was canceling all its flights and grounding its fleet after placing itself in the hands of liquidators Ernst & Young Australia.

Photo: Ryan Fletcher | Shutterstock

Since then, passengers have desperately tried to find their way back to Australia, New Zealand, Fiji or wherever they need to be, with one travel group chartering a Solomon Airlines aircraft to return to Brisbane. With Fijians stuck there, the national carrier stepped in to sort out its own solution, something other airlines or governments don’t seem willing to do.

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The offer is extremely straightforward: Any Fijian National currently holding an Air Vanuatu ticket purchased on or prior to May 9, 2024, will be able to depart Port Vila for Nadi on a Fiji Airways flight at no extra cost. The only condition is that rebooking and changes must be made before May 24.

Photo: Michael Doran I Simple Flying

Fiji Airways said that any Fijians in Vanuatu with specific assistance requests or due to travel in the next 48 hours should contact the airline’s GSA in Vanuatu or email it at spts@vanuatu.com.vu. Passengers must present a copy of their Air Vanuatu ticket to secure a seat on a Fiji Airways flight from Port Vila to Nadi.

Bigger aircraft to speed up repatriations

Andre Viljoen, Managing Director and CEO of Fijian Airways said the airline is doing everything it can to assist customers affected by Air Vanuatu’s grounding.

“As the National Airline, Fiji Airways has a duty to assist Fijians where possible, and we will not waver from this. We understand that this may be a difficult time for Fijian Nationals who have paid for an Air Vanuatu ticket which they can no longer redeem, therefore we will not charge them a fee to fly back home to Fiji.”

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The service between Fiji’s Nadi International Airport (NAN) and Port Vila Bauerfield International (VLI) usually operates with an ATR 72-600 turboprop and takes around 2:30 hours. Fiji Airways is pulling all the stops out to make this happen quickly by switching flights to a Boeing 737, adding 110 seats per flight in each direction and cutting the flight time to around 1:30 hours.

The airline said those capacity changes would be for flights from Sunday to Wednesday this week, Wednesday, May 22, and Wednesday, May 29. The CEO also assured all Fijians there would be enough seats available to get everybody home, and the airline would keep everyone informed, avoiding any need to overload the staff working all this out.

The airline has also reached out to Non-Fijian Nationals holding Air Vanuatu tickets issued on or before May 9. It said it is working on measures to assist them and that they will be required to present a copy of their Air Vanuatu ticket to qualify for a discount, with further details and contact numbers on the website.

What do you think of this offer from Fiji Airways? Let us know in the comments.