The collapse of Vanuatu's national carrier is the "best thing that's ever happened" to its tourism industry, resort owner Brendon Deeley says.
Far from lamenting the airline's demise in May, he hopes it never operates international flights again.
So he was dismayed when the Vanuatu government announced a plan for a new Air Vanuatu that would restart international routes.
"I don't think there was anything holding back the country more than Air Vanuatu," he said.
"It hurt the country massively, the failure of Air Vanuatu."
Mr Deeley said the national carrier owed him a "significant amount of money" after it failed to pay his resort for accommodation it provided to stranded tourists at the time of the collapse.
"We will never see that money again," he said.
The airline's troubled record of cancellations and delays also did damage to the nation's tourism, he said.
"The opportunity cost, for us personally, is in the tune of millions. For the country it would be in the tune of probably hundreds of millions," he said.
When Air Vanuatu entered voluntary liquidation in May 2024, the nation's business and tourism community hoped it would mark a new chapter for the embattled airline.
Australian carriers entered the market, now dominating the tourism hotspot.
But when it exited liquidation just a few months later in October, Air Vanuatu was handed back to the government, which has announced plans to restart international services.
Now there are questions as to why Vanuatu's political figures are so intent on playing a role in the airline industry and want to reboot its failed airline.
A tourism revival While there were initial fears Air Vanuatu's collapse would damage Vanuatu's tourism, Mr Deeley said the number of Australian tourists has "grown substantially" over the last year.
Virgin has been operating flights into Vanuatu from Australia since 2004, and the collapse of Air Vanuatu prompted Qantas and Jetstar to move in on the route, operating up to nine return flights each week.
This was also supported by an "Open Sky" policy the Vanuatu government adopted to allow foreign carriers to use the route, in an effort to bring in tourists.
The Vanuatu Department of Tourism told the ABC that in August 2024, the number of international passengers was 18 per cent higher when compared to the same time in 2023, when Air Vanuatu was still flying internationally.
"The benefits to Vanuatu of having Qantas and Virgin coming into the country outweigh, in my opinion, 1,000-fold the benefits to the country starting up another international airline," Mr Deeley said.
Last year, Ernst & Young (EY) Australia was appointed as liquidator of Air Vanuatu, which saw the airline resume domestic operations and shares transferred to the shareholders of AV3, a privately owned company of the Vanuatu government.
The sole shareholder of AV3 is the Vanuatu Ministry of Foreign Affairs, re-establishing Air Vanuatu under an ownership set-up similar to before its collapse, when three senior ministers were the shareholders.
Glen Craig, the managing partner of Pacific Advisory, a regional consultancy firm, believes that without any new shareholders, the "new" Air Vanuatu will be "tainted".
"AV3 and the assets of Air Vanuatu as far as we're aware, it's the same management, same shareholders, and it's a bit like Groundhog Day," he said.
'Ego' controlling decisions Matai Seremaiah, who was Vanuatu's deputy prime minister at the time he spoke to the ABC, confirmed Air Vanuatu would continue to fly domestically, and re-enter the international market.
Since then, Vanuatu held a snap election and negotiations are underway to form a new government, and it's unclear whether it will have the same policy on Air Vanuatu.
Commentators have said restoring regular air services between Vanuatu's islands should be a priority for the next government.
The Vanuatu Department of Tourism said that the resumed domestic flights remain irregular.
"Sadly, most of the tourism businesses in the outer islands are still faced with the lack of reliable air connectivity, it continues to impact their forward bookings and revenues," the department said in a statement to the ABC.
Mr Deeley, the resort owner, welcomed the decision to re-commence domestic flights but believes re-entering the international market would "mess up things".
"If it was just domestic they were looking at, we would support … but stay away from international," he said.
Mr Craig said "national pride" is the reason why the government wants to restart international services.
"I think that there's several politicians whose parties were involved in the very early days in the formation of Air Vanuatu. [They] took it very personally that it went broke and can't let it go, it's nothing more than ego," he said.
Air Vanuatu's sole Boeing 737 had been in maintenance for extended periods before the airline collapsed.
A report by EY found the airline had been in financial distress, dealing with large debts and unable to pay for spare parts needed to keep its Boeing 737 in the air.
George Faktaufon, an airline consultant who has previously held roles with Air Pacific and the Association of South Pacific Airlines, said a lack of accountability had plagued Air Vanuatu's operations.
"I think [the government is] desperately wanting to maintain some form of air transportation, particularly within Vanuatu … unfortunately, egos are expensive," he said.
But Mr Faktaufon said Vanuatu is not alone.
"Pacific Island airlines are very much undercapitalised," he said.
"The majority of the routes they operate are unviable, they have very high operational cost when compared with the revenue."
Mr Faktaufon believes a return to international operations for Air Vanuatu would only be possible with collaboration.
"The solution is for the airlines to work together and it's my belief that it's got to be driven from the governments because they are the shareholders," he said.
Collapse not without cost When it entered liquidation, Air Vanuatu's financial situation was dire — it owed more than $99 million to creditors.
For the developing nation, its economic circumstances only worsened in the wake of the deadly magnitude-7.3 earthquake that struck last month, and it's estimated the recovery will cost at least 29 billion vatu ($374 million).
Mr Craig believes that Air Vanuatu re-entering the international market would set the government up for "huge financial losses".
"We're all for the government to retain a silent shareholding, non-management control, 10 per cent, 15 per cent, so long as it doesn't have any financial obligations for the people of Vanuatu, because we've got no funding for this," he said.
Mr Craig said despite the "reputational damage" Air Vanuatu had suffered, an international company has expressed interest in the embattled airline.
Panaf Group, a Germany-based airline consultancy company which acquires shares of airlines and provides managerial advice to them, approached the Vanuatu government after learning of its situation.
Board member Oliver Lackmann said the company had plans to bring national airlines in the South Pacific region together.
"Small island nations' airlines are facing all the same problems — they're too small, they have no scale effects, [the operations are] too complex for the size of the airline which means that it is very hard for them to earn money," he said.
"We are really thinking about building centres of excellence which can be used by all of these airlines, which would be potential partners of an alliance".
Mr Lackmann said their long-term plan for Air Vanuatu would see the airline re-enter the international market.
"We are willing to invest into the airline and that will be in every area.
"We are actually in some interesting talks already to other partners there, which shows us that there is this urgent need to join forces and that makes it very attractive for us."
Airline consultant George Faktaufon said while "centres of excellence" were not "a new idea", they were a good one.
"I hope that it can materialise somehow," he said.
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