Administrators are assessing the financial position of South Pacific island operator Air Vanuatu after it named accountancy firm EY as liquidator and grounded flights on 9 May.
The state-owned airline, which links Vanuatu to Australia, New Zealand and several South Pacific island destinations, is advising passengers not to travel to the airport after filing for insolvency. It has appointed Morgan Kelly, Andrew Hanson and Justin Walsh of EY as ”joint and several” liquidators of the company.
“At the moment we are conducting an urgent assessment into the financial position of the airline,” Kelly said, during an interview with Sky News in Australia. ”The first thing we need to do is understand the situation we have got and see what we can do to restart the operations as quickly as we can.”
Cirium fleets data shows Air Vanuatu had one Airbus A320 jet and five turboprops, including three De Havilland Canada Dash 8s and a single ATR 72. The airline’s sole Boeing 737 was grounded last year amid a lack of spare parts, while the airline also placed an order for four Airbus A220s in 2019, though these jets have not been delivered.
