Airports Vanuatu Ltd

The staff include the Senior Management Team and Board of Directors.

At present AVL has not made it compulsory for staff to be vaccinated, although it intends to do so.

“Those who are yet to be vaccinated due to various reasons are currently restricted from working on the front-line. AVL supports the Vaccination Programme and encourages all residents of Vanuatu to be vaccinated, as vaccination becomes available to them through the Vaccine Rollout Programme,” AVL said.

The Vaccination Programme will be rolled out to Tanna and Santo in the next few months.

AVL Chief Executive Officer Jason Rakau, AVL Board Directors Letlet August and Bettina Mahieu, Group Head of Air Navigation Services Kevin Abel, Manager Commercial Jorick Sarginson, and frontline staff from Airport Rescue and Firefighting Services (Hamish Malokle and Ben Bule), Aviation Security (Natu Vira) and Customer Services (Lissie Woiviresulu) were part of the first 100 leaders to receive their jab at the National Convention Centre yesterday.

Rakau said he was proud to have been selected in this group of top leaders to be offered the vaccine.

According to AVL, “International scheduled air services continue to be suspended by our airline partners and restrictions continue to be applied by the Vanuatu Government on international air operations into Vanuatu, as a result of the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic.

“Only special international charter, medivac, and technical stop flight applications are currently being considered and approved (or denied) by the National Disaster Management Office (NDMO), during our active COVID-19 and TC Harold National State of Emergency.

According to AVL, only special international charter, medivac, and technical stop flight applications are currently being considered and approved (or denied) by the National Disaster Management Office (NDMO), during Vanuatu’s active COVID-19 and TC Harold National State of Emergency.

AVL said upon receiving formal notification of approval for any specific flight, it notifies and works closely with the nominated ground handling organisation and other relevant agencies to facilitate arrivals and departures formalities.

Bauerfield International Airport will be renamed Port Vila Airport and Pekoa Airport will now be known as Santo Airport.

Whitegrass Airport will be renamed Tanna Airport.

A statement said the rebranding of the airports has met with strong approval from the tourism community in particular, with stakeholders advising that the clearer naming will enable future growth, as the airport names are aligned with the destinations they serve.

AVL employs more than 250 people directly.

Photo courtesy AVL Caption: Port Vila Airport  

Justice Oliver Saksak says the company has the power to dismiss a member of staff for serious misconduct, only if there is no other course to take.

He ruled that Jacklyne Sese, who had worked for the company for 16 years, and Susan Noel, who had worked for nine years, had not been treated fairly.

Tehy were awarded about $US11,000 and $US6,000 respectively.

The ruling was welcomed by other cleaners who told the Daily Post newspaper that it proved the law was applicable at all levels of society.