Australians among hundreds stranded by Air Vanuatu flight cancellations.

AIR VANUATU BOEING 737-8SH YJ-AV8 (MSN 42052)

Hundreds of travellers have been stranded in Vanuatu after the country's sole international aircraft was grounded due to mechanical issues.

Air Vanuatu says its Boeing 737 is grounded in Brisbane "awaiting a mechanical part", meaning more than 20 Air Vanuatu flights to Australia, New Zealand and Fiji have been cancelled or rescheduled since last Friday. The airline says it is "deeply sorry" for the "significant disruptions" and is promising to resume its international schedule by the end of this week.

Ulladulla resident Janice O'Neil said she was en route to the airport on Friday when she received an email saying her flight from Sydney to Vanuatu was cancelled.

Below message was taken from the Air Vanuatu website

Dear Guests,
We deeply regret to inform you that, despite our best efforts, we are faced with extended delays in returning to our regular international flight schedule. The completion of necessary work has encountered unexpected challenges, making it impossible for us to provide an exact timeframe for resuming our regular schedules. At this stage, we anticipate the possible resumption of international flights by the end of this week.
We have engaged Nauru airlines to operate a number of limited services between Brisbane, Sydney, Auckland and Nadi to and from Port Vila. Our teams have been working on re-routing guests via Nadi, Honiara and Brisbane.
We ask Guests on cancelled Air Vanuatu services to not present themselves at the airport for check-in.
For information on those flights that have been cancelled and rescheduled services, please visit: https://www.airvanuatu.com/.../akl_syd_mel_bne-service...
If you no longer wish to travel, you have refund options available. If your booking was made through a Travel Agent, kindly reach out to your Travel Agent to initiate a refund with us.
For those who booked directly with Air Vanuatu, please email our team on customercare@airvanuatu.vu to assist with processing your refund. In order to speed up the process, please provide your booking reference and the name(s) of those booked.
If you wish to contact us please reach out using any of the following numbers:
• Call Center: +678 23838 (Open Monday to Friday 8am to 5pm Vanuatu time) 

(On weekends and public holidays: 8am to 3pm Vanuatu time)
• Australia: 1300 780 737 (toll-free) / +612 8335 4600 (if calling from overseas) (Open 9am to 5pm AEST)
• New Zealand: +64 (9) 373 3435 (Open 9am to 5pm NZ time)
We can also be contacted via email reservation@airvanuatu.vu
We appreciate the significance of your travel plans and are committed to providing you with the best possible assistance during this situation.

Air Vanuatu only have two aircraft, a Boeing 737-800 and an ATR 72