Air Vanuatu flights grounded: RSE workers stuck in Hawke’s Bay face four-week wait

Stranded Vanuatu seasonal workers in Hawke’s Bay face a four-week delay after their main carrier home grounded its flights.

They’re among hundreds of Air Vanuatu passengers across the Pacific, Australia and New Zealand stuck after the airline filed for insolvency last week, with Vanuatu’s government placing it in voluntary liquidation.

But local workers claim there’s still hope that flights can soon be arranged with alternative airlines in the coming weeks.

Across New Zealand and Vanuatu, 1458 workers are stranded, with visas for 213 workers due to expire by Wednesday, but Immigration NZ had promised they would be issued with a visa for one month to enable them to stay and work until flights are available.

Paul Smith is one of those whose visa was due to expire, seven months into his third season working in Hawke’s Bay.

He said immigration officials had told him it would be extended so he could stay until he got passage home.

His family had been excited to see him back home and were worried by the delay caused by the cancellation of the flight.

He misses Vanuatu, but for now, all he can do is wait for more information.

Paul Smith (left) with fellow RSE workers from Vanuatu. They have been left stranded in Hawke's Bay following the grounding of all Air Vanuatu flights. Photo / Warren Buckland

Fellow Vanuatuan RSE worker Ricky Phillip is in a similar situation.

“Maybe there will be an opportunity for us, maybe somewhere in Hawke’s Bay, for a flight. Many of the boys are missing their families. Just all of us, we miss our families,” Phillip said.

“But we don’t have a choice, so we just carry on. We keep going until, ideally, we have the opportunity to go back.”

Employer Rudi Markram, of R&J Employment Services, said it looked like it would be at least four weeks before the seasonal workers from Vanuatu could get passage home.

“It looks like their visas will get extended, but we are also looking at getting a carrier or organising a flight to take the boys back,” Markram said.

“What I can say at the moment is other carriers are looking at helping out.”

He said Immigration NZ was working with them to make sure the seasonal workers’ visas were all in order.

“In the meantime, we just need to keep looking after the boys and making sure they are okay and comfortable, and just give them as much information as we can.”

Immigration NZ Pacific national manager Loua Ward, earlier told RNZ’s Morning Report Immigration NZ was working with employers and they would continue to supply accommodation and pastoral care.

James Pocock joined Hawke’s Bay Today in 2021 and writes breaking news and features, with a focus on the environment, local government and post-cyclone issues in the region. He has a keen interest in finding the bigger picture in research and making it more accessible to audiences. He lives in Napier. You can contact him at james.pocock@nzme.co.nz.