iscover
Under a Deed of Compromise approved by the country’s Supreme Court, all shares in Air Vanuatu will be turned over to the government-owned company AV3 and the airline handed back to its management.
The airline has commenced its summer schedule, which triples its Melbourne–King Island services to nine per week; it also flies return between King Island and Burnie/Launceston 12 times per week.
Pilots from both the Australian and International Pilots Association (AIPA) and Australian Federation of Air Pilots (AFAP) voted against the deal, which included a two-year wage freeze followed by annual increases of 3 per cent, as well as a $5,000 “Recovery Boost” payment.
The revelation will add to scepticism that the deal for Qatar to acquire a stake in Virgin is being done to circumvent rules preventing it from flying more services out of Australia.
The issue with the airline’s South Korean booking website last week resulted in some trans-Tasman economy fares as far out as September 2025 going for as low as 6,100 Korean won (under $7), while business fares were seen from 12,500 won ($14).
The news comes just over a year after Transport Minister Catherine King controversially blocked the expansion of Qatar flights into major Australian airports – a decision that Virgin, a codeshare partner of Qatar, criticised.
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