Vanuatu’s tourism industry has applauded Virgin Australia’s decision to resume flights after a gap of several months.
Most international airlines pulled out over safety fears due to the deteriorating state of the runway at Port Vila Airport.
A temporary fix has been completed ahead of a full scale renovation in the near future..
Chairman of the Vanuatu hotel and resorts association Bryan Death said the news is a major boost for the industry.
"It’s huge, it’s really big. It means we’ve got an extra three flights a week out of Australia and Air Vanuatu, the national carrier has recently announced they will be doing six flights from Sydney, three from Brisbane and three from Auckland from June 1, so that’s really putting some capacity out into the market," he said.
He said tourism leaders are now trying to convince Air New Zealand to follow suit and resume scheduled flights.
Air NZ previously said it would only restart flights after a permanent repair is completed.
