Air Vanuatu defers A220 deliveries

Air Vanuatu (NF, Port Vila) has announced that it has deferred the planned delivery of its first A220 aircraft, originally due in the coming weeks. “The Board is re-evaluating the airline’s fleet strategy, placing on hold plans to take delivery of new Airbus A220 aircraft later this year, taking into consideration the COVID-19 economic crisis and the closure of international borders,” the airline said in a statement. Air Vanuatu was due to take its first A220-300 in the middle of the year and its first A220-100 by the end of the year. A further two units – one of each variant – were due for delivery in 2021 and 2022. “We will do an overall review of our international and domestic operations and evaluate outsourcing of our maintenance department, known as Part 145… We want to ensure that Air Vanuatu is self-sufficient in the long-run,” Chairman Sam Firi said. The decisions were announced as a part of a wider corporate restructuring under the new strategy dubbed “New Era, New Look”. The carrier is set to become a leaner organisation with reduced management and staff. In particular, expatriate managers are set to be replaced by “qualified Vanuatu nationals”. The current Chief Executive, Derek Nice, a Canadian, is set to leave when his contract expires on June 25. His permanent replacement has not been announced yet although former CEO Joseph Laloyer will take over on an interim basis. According to the ch-aviation fleets advanced module, Air Vanuatu’s current fleet comprises one B737-800, one ATR72-600, and three DHC-6-300s. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the airline also wet-leased a B737-300 from Nauru Airlines (Australia) (ON, Brisbane Int’l) on a long-term basis and the ch-aviation schedules module indicates that it still plans to resume the ACMI arrangement once it restarts scheduled international operations.