Unity Airlines urges Air Vanuatu to resume domestic flights amid regulatory challenges

July 18, 2024 10:42 pm | Posted in Business News | Share now Twitter Facebook

By Doddy Morris.

Owner of Unity Airlines, Tony Deamer, has stressed the importance of Air Vanuatu resuming domestic services as soon as safely possible, since local airlines cannot conduct regular passenger flights due to Civil Aviation Authority of Vanuatu (CAAV) regulations.

He elaborated on this after the Opposition questioned why the government is not giving approval to Air Taxi and other local airlines to carry out scheduled flights throughout the islands of Vanuatu, saying that there are many Minimum Requirements that may make it very difficult to move from Charter to Regular Public Transport Category.

Mr. Deamer said one of the reasons is that Part 145 maintenance is required by CAAV, which is a lengthy process involving the employment of several qualified personnel to ensure safety and quality oversight to the highest airline standards, similar to Air Vanuatu.

Part 145 Maintenance is a regulatory process established by aviation authorities to ensure that aircraft maintenance organisations meet the necessary standards for conducting maintenance, repairs, and inspections.

Another reason is that all flights must be conducted by current, instrument-rated pilots in instrument-rated aircraft.

He stated that this was problematic last year and most of this year because navigation aids at Port Vila and Santo were non-functional after the early 2023 cyclones, preventing pilots from completing their required six-monthly IFR checks.

He added that there are several other criteria that must be met to upgrade to Regular Public Transport (RPT) services.

“So it was just not possible with in the current CAAV Rules for them to give approvals for anything other than Charter flights, we have all been operating to the best of our abilities for the past 2 months, with pilots and aircraft often working to their maximum legal limits, in order to keep people moving,” Mr. Deamer said.

He added some Air Vanuatu Pilots are currently flying with the Charter Operators to help keep the aircrafts in the air and keep moving people about.

“However we are now down to only 3 Islander Aircrafts. This is 2 aircrafts less than the 1971 one, when I arrived in New Hebrides,” he said.