The Government of Vanuatu wants Air Vanuatu to be granted the right to deliver regional and international air services on behalf of Tonga.
Vanuatu Prime Minister Bob Loughman Weibur has asked Tongan Prime Minister Siaosi Sovaleni to sign an air services agreement.
Loughman said such an agreement could come into effect in a “post Covid” world.
Vanuatu's Covid travel restrictions will be lifted on 1 July.
Weibur said the proposal would entail a “a win-win for our national airlines and governments, post-COVID.”
Such an agreement would allow Air Vanuatu to ensure that fares between the two Island nations, Australia and New Zealand would remain stable.
He said this would overcome the problem of larger airlines setting prices and schedules.
“Such an arrangement would serve as a firm foundation for the creation of an equitable and collective multi-national air transport system for our countries and those of our fellow nations in Oceania,” Prime Minister Weibur said.
The Vanuatu government is the primary shareholder of Air Vanuatu.
Air Vanuatu’s CEO Atu Finau said the airline’s planned to increase its Pacific connections.
Air Vanuatu had presented the shareholders with a business case for the purchase of a second Boeing 737. The airline uses the Boeing airliner on domestic and international routes.
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