Air Vanuatu, General Manager, AU & NZ, Malcolm Pryor

Steady growth for Air Vanuatu following the purchase of two new jets and the acquisition of a 737-800 servicing its Australia and New Zealand routes has not led the airline to follow current trends of many mainstream carriers to suddenly overhaul services or plans, according to General Manager, Malcolm Pryor who says the KISS model works best for the island airline.

"We continue to see ourselves as a full service airline and see it as a competitive value and part of what people want for their holidays," Mr Pryor said during an exclusive interview with e-Travel Blackboard at Tok Tok 2010.

With what Mr Pryor says is "essentially the youngest fleet in the Pacific", investments have been made in recent years to upgrade its Australia/New Zealand services replacing the 737-300 to a 737-800 which operates from all major ports of Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Auckland, as well as the addition of a brand new ATR-72 and Harbin Y-12. 

"The capacity is appropriate for this market and for the accommodation available," Mr Pryor said.

The announcement of Government plans to construct a 747 capability airstrip in Espiritu Santo revealed at the opening of Tok Tok came as unexpected news to Mr Pryor, who said the airline, which does not currently operate the jets, will only do so subject to the Board and CEO's decision in subsequent years.

Load factors for New Zealand services were performing "extremely well", according to Mr Pryor, adding that although encouraging, further improvement could be made to loads from Brisbane and Melbourne which he said was mainly due to seasonality.

"We offer competitive fares set by offers that are compared to other destinations," Mr Pryor said, adding that co-operative marketing with wholesalers, retailers and the tourism office would be continued for above-the-line campaigns.

"We spend as much time promoting the destination as the airline," he said.

"I'm very excited to see the destination marketed in the new brand campaign."