Runway safety concerns stop Air New Zealand services to Vanuatu

The tiny Pacific island nation of Vanuatu -- still recovering from last year's Cyclone Pam -- suffered another blow Friday when New Zealand's national carrier announced it will stop flying to the capital due to safety concerns.

Air New Zealand said it was suspending services between Auckland and Vanuatu in light of ongoing concerns about the condition of the runway at Port Vila International Airport.

"The condition of the runway at Port Vila has been gradually deteriorating and we have taken the difficult decision to suspend services before the situation becomes unsafe," Air New Zealand general manager flight operations Stephen Hunt said in a statement.

Air New Zealand would operate one more return service between Auckland and Vanuatu on Sunday in order to repatriate customers, supported by additional safety measures.

Air New Zealand technical experts were being deployed to Port Vila to provide additional oversight for Sunday's arrival into and departure from Port Vila International Airport.

Customer care spokesperson Debbie McKeown said in the statement that the airline knew it would inconvenience customers, but safety came first.

Air New Zealand had been operating to Vanuatu once a week and code-sharing with Air Vanuatu on its twice weekly Auckland-Vanuatu services.