One of the big four accounting firms, Ernst and Young (EY), has been appointed as the liquidator.
According to mainstream media interviews on Friday, the intention is to get Air Vanuatu back in the skies.
International tourism is important for the South Pacific nation while aviation is important for its domestic mobility, given the country is made up of more than 80 islands.
“We know how important this airline is to Vanuatu and we know how important it is to travellers,” one of the liquidators from EY, Morgan Kelly, told The Today Show on Channel Nine on Friday.
“We’re focussing on securing a future for the airline longer term.
“The intention is to get the airline back to normal as quickly as possible.
“This might involve finding a buyer or some kind of equity partner,” he said.
Morgan also spoke to Sky News on Friday about the challenges Air Vanuatu has faced in recent times.
“Airlines globally have been challenged of late. Vanuatu particularly [has] experienced some serious weather issues over the last few years with cyclones and weather which has impacted tourism.
“You’ve also got increasing fuel costs, increasing interest rates, rising labour prices, so all of those things in combination have been a fairly big problem for this airline’s profitability.
“Whether that’s something that’s solvable immediately remains to be seen.”
Vanuatu has infrastructure – and the wow factor – to host small business events groups for meetings and incentives.
Air Vanuatu’s grounding and collapse comes just weeks after Australia’s young low-cost carrier Bonza went into voluntary administration on April 30.
Bonza’s administration process is continuing, with flights remaining grounded and one of the airline’s leased aircraft departing Australia.
At this stage Bonza’s fleet will stay out of the sky until at least the end of tomorrow, May 14.
