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Joseph Laloyer, Air Vanuatu’s chief executive officer has said the airline is enjoying strong growth and promising forward bookings thanks to a solid foundation and a returned confidence in the airline.

“After Cyclone Pam, with the assistance of the Vanuatu Government,  we put a recovery plan in action that aimed to see the airline return to solid bookings, better codeshare agreements, new aircraft and an improved schedule back in 2015,” he said.

 “Since then, we have worked very closely with the government, airport authority and the VTO to ensure we as a destination not only recovered, but exceeded previous growth.”

Mr. Laloyer said a number of factors had assisted in Air Vanuatu’s recovery since TC Pam.

“Undoubtedly the airline regaining our IOSA membership has had a positive result. We are once again enjoying a very valuable codeshare partnership with Qantas but we are also seeing confidence return with the upgrades to Bauerfield.”

Mr. Laloyer said another significant codeshare, which he has personally been working on will also shortly be announced.

 “Our forward bookings from Australia for January 2018 are up 40%, this is thanks to our post cyclone marketing strategy put in place, the VTO’s marketing campaign and our partnerships with other carriers.”

Mr. Laloyer explained short term marketing campaigns are beneficial to every airline but it’s the long term planning including purchasing or leasing new aircraft, budgeting forecasts and strategic partnerships that have resulted in the impressive forward bookings.

“We will also see growth from our New Zealand market and strong growth in New Caledonia as well – in the region of 40 and 80 percent respectively for January compared to last year.”

Mr. Laloyer said he is confident 2018 will be a good year for Air Vanuatu, with his main focus being the recertification of IOSA.

 “I put together a great team led by our general manager of quality, safety and safety systems Sandi Lock two years ago.

We will continue to strengthen our operations and marketing departments in 2018 to ensure the hard work leads to our continued success at Air Vanuatu.”