Any idea why Air Van have suspended BNE-SON?

[foam]

Taken from the NF website
Schedules | Air Vanuatu (http://www.airvanuatu.com/home/trip-planning/schedules.aspx)



Following operational requirements, until further notice International services to Santo will operate via Port Vila, with Port Vila-Santo-Port Vila sectors operated by our domestic fleet.

Customers will fly to and from Port Vila, then be accommodated on domestic flights, which remain unaffected.
Any idea what the go is? Nothing in the NOTAMS.
Have been told by a fairly un-reliable source that the runway needed upgrading to take the 738, but that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, given they've been flying the 800's there for at least 3 years that I'm aware of...

Cheers

[UnderneathTheRadar]

Probably political - there is a diplomatic incident going on at the moment. Apparently Vanuatu's PM was insulted at Sydney airport (why should he be any different?) last week and has kicked out all of the Australian fed police in retalliation.

[Jabawocky]

Maybe there is more to this than meets the eye.

Once the immigrations forms were completed, police arrested the prime minister's private secretary Clarence Marae in relation to money laundering charges.


PM - Row between Vanuatu and Australia deepening 10/05/2012 (http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2012/s3500195.htm)

Read this in context and you may see they were pressured into an unusual course of action, just so the AFP could nail the private secretary. Very clever!

[BlueTongue]

Vanuatu Daily Post

Air Van suspends Pekoa international services
By Marc Neil - Jones
Air Vanuatu has announced the suspension of international services into Pekoa airport due to safety concerns.
“A 14-page risk assessment report produced by the Pacific Aviation Safety Office (PASO) has identified a number of safety issues which have left us with no choice but to suspend operations immediately,” Chief Executive Officer Joseph Laloyer said.

“We very much regret this decision – particularly at a time when our loads in to Santo have been so good – however we cannot and will not put our passengers, our staff or our aircraft at risk.”
Elevated concerns regarding emergency response equipment and growth of nearby trees at Pekoa and increased bird strikes led Air Vanuatu to request a thorough assessment by CAAV.
“Now that we have received this report, we have a legal obligation to suspend services to Santo,” Mr Laloyer said.

Chairman of the Board of Directors, Simeon Athy said responsible government authorities must urgently address the issues at Pekoa airport before services can resume.

“We must act on these findings immediately and address all identified risk factors,” he said.

Air Vanuatu advised passengers booked on international services to and from Santo would be re-accommodated on domestic flights from Port Vila.

“We remain committed to Santo as an international destination, with good loads and every indication of further growth, this decision is indeed regrettable, but absolutely necessary,” Mr. Athy said.

Air Vanuatu will work closely with the authorities to ensure corrective action is taken and is committed to resuming international services to Santo once acceptable safety levels are restored.

[foam]

Thanks for that Bluetongue.

Have been searching that website, but couldn't find the article... finally found it under the wrong title.

Did find two follow-up articles though.

Minister leading team to sort Santo international flight suspension | Vanuatu Daily Post (http://www.dailypost.vu/content/minister-leading-team-sort-santo-international-flight-suspension)

Santo tackles suspension of international flights | Vanuatu Daily Post (http://www.dailypost.vu/content/santo-tackles-suspension-international-flights)

Interesting times...

[Yeti Breath]

From what I remember the 300 & then the 800 were operated into Santo on dispensations, something to do with the pavement I think. Maybe AVL or CAAV said "no more". But as previously stated I'd say politics has a lot to do with it.