Qantas services to Vanuatu to return in June

Qantas and Air Vanuatu will resume their codeshare partnership flights to Port Vila from June 15.

The news has been overwhelmingly welcomed by the tourism industry in Vanuatu as a necessary step forward to increasing destination marketing in Australia and beyond.

"Qantas has been a long term and important partner of Air Vanuatu's,” said Chief executive officer of Vanuatu’s national carrier Joseph Laloyer.

"From codeshare agreements to maintenance contracts, marketing to ground services, their partnership is our most valued and respected."

Laloyer said Qantas would resume selling flights from Sydney and Brisbane to Port Vila with connections from other Australian ports.

"They also intend to use new imagery to support holiday packages to the outer islands as well."

Qantas has been codesharing on the Brisbane to Santo flights for sometime.

The announcement comes after the signing of contracts for Bauerfield airport upgrades.

Bryan Death, chairman of the Vanuatu Hotels and Resorts Association said the return of the codeshare should result in an immediate boost to arrival figures from Australia.

"This is the news we have been waiting on and it couldn't have come at a better time with the current destination marketing campaign running in Australia," he said.

Laloyer said Air Vanuatu was grateful for the patience and understanding of Qantas and the tourism industry in Vanuatu.

“We look forward to welcoming our first Qantas passengers back to Port Vila on 15 June,” he said.