Qantas Group Annonces Vanuata Flights

Qantas Group, including mainline Qantas and low-cost unit Jetstar, have announced plans to commence flights between Australia and Vanuatu.

New seats have officially been placed on sale, with nine return flights each week. These services respond to Air Vanuata’s collapse and the group’s vision of enabling continued travel.

From September 10, 2024, Qantas will begin thrice-weekly flights between Brisbane and Port Villa. If demand is strong enough, Qantas will increase this to five weekly flights and utilise its Boeing 737 aircraft.

Meanwhile, the Group’s low-cost unit Jetstar will offer four weekly flights between Sydney and Port Villa from 12 December 2024. Jetstar says it’ll use its newly delivered Airbus A321neo LR, which has improved its business.

Jetstar is preparing for more Airbus A321neo LRs in the coming months, enabling routes such as the one to Port Villa from Sydney. In July, the 13th unit will arrive, which has been huge for the airlines’ network in relieving pressure on existing aircraft and enabling the launch to new markets.

These flights will create over 150,000 new seats between Australia and Vanuatu annually. Furthermore, the Group will look to offer a wide array of fares, whether on the mainline Qantas or cheaper fares with fewer benefits on its low-cost unit.

Once these flights become operational, Vanuata’s tourism economy will support them and develop the South Pacific as a popular Australian holiday location.

Phillip Maguire
30/06/2024 at 11:57 am
I miss the early morning flight from Port Vila to Sydney that Air Vanuatu used to do on this route, which allowed for easy onward connections to other Australian cities the same day. Virgin Australia and Qantas/Jetstar return flight back to Brisbane (or Sydney) arrive too late in the day to make easy same day connections to other Australian cities. Air Vanuatu is currently being restructured and from early reports they will soon restore their inter-island domestic services once all the regulatory paper work is complete. That will hopefully be very soon now. Their service is desperately needed, using their ATR between Port Vila to Santo, and Port Vila to Tanna, backed up by their smaller aircraft to other islands which have grass strips. Small air charter companies in Vanuatu have very busy trying hard to fill the void to provide inter-island service in the absence of Air Vanuatu. The return of Air Vanuatu providing regular scheduled domestic service can’t come soon enough.