Air Vanuatu (NF, Port Vila) has taken delivery of a fourth DHC-6-300 as it undergoes restructuring and slowly rebuilds its network.
N708GH (msn 481) was ferried from Fort Pierce International via Tulsa Richard Lloyd Jones Jr., Camarillo, Santa Maria, CA, Hilo, and Pago Pago to Port Vila over the course of January 11-20, 2026. The aircaft remains registered in the United States, but will be reregistered in Vanuatu "in the coming weeks".
"Our new Twin Otter will help improve connectivity, increase flight frequency, and provide a more reliable service for communities across the country," chairman Robin Deamer said.
The aircraft was delivered to a defunct Indonesian airline, Merpati, in 1975, and was sold by the liquidators of the state-owned carrier during an auction in 2022. Following its retirement from operations in 2014, the Twin Otter remained parked at Biak and was transferred to the US as cargo on a container ship. It has been refurbished prior to redelivery.
Air Vanuatu currently operates three Twin Otters. The carrier's fleet also includes one ATR72-600, which, however, has been parked since August 1, 2025, due to extended maintenance. Since then, the airline has occasionally been wet-leasing additional capacity under a raft of short-term contracts, usually covering A320-200s from Solomons - Solomon Airlines and ATR72-600s from Air Calédonie. The wet-leased aircraft are deployed nearly exclusively on the Port Vila-Espiritu Santo sector.
The airline did not respond to ch-aviation's request for comment regarding the current estimate for the return to service of its ATR - Avions de Transport Régional turboprop.
