About Air Taxi Vanuatu
friendly, experienced, knowledgeableMeet The Air Taxi Team
WORKING TOGETHER – The small and personal team at Air Taxi is well equipped to ensure you fly safely, to the many exotic islands of Vanuatu with lots of fun thrown in.
Flight safety is the mainstay of our company culture; we are Civil Aviation Authority Vanuatu (CAAV) compliant, and we train our pilots to exceed the Authority standards. Our aircraft are owned and maintained in country by our International Licensed Aircraft Engineers, the same engineers that complete pre-flight inspections of the international jets, so you are in good hands.
Vanuatu is home to some of the world’s most active and spectacular volcanoes. We offer tours to several volcanoes including Mt Yasur volcano on Tanna Island, Benbow & Marum volcanoes on Ambrym Island, Lopevi volcano, Ambae volcano and the volcano on Gaua Island in the Banks Group. We provide charter flights to see traditional cultural displays and tours to see the famous Pentecost Nagol Land Diving. We can fly you to an Eco-lodge on Epi Island, the white sandy beaches of Espiritu Santo such as Champagne beach, the jungle forests of Malekula Island, the coral reefs of Mystery Island, and the country’s best snorkeling and diving spots. We offer wildlife viewing, hiking and flight seeing joy flights over the pristine bays of Port Vila.
Let us take you to see the best that Vanuatu has to offer.
Nick
CHIEF ENGINEER & MAINTENANCE CONTROLLER
Nick runs the Air Taxi engineering facility, ensuring the highest levels of maintenance standards to the Air Taxi fleet. Air Taxi Vanuatu also provides commercial jet maintenance services to Air Fiji, Solomon Airways and Air Calin.
Meliana
BOOKINGS CO-ORDINATOR & OFFICE MANAGER
Meliana is the first point of contact for all customer enquiries. As well as ensuring all reservation enquiries and processing, she likes to personally check-in everyone for their flight and generally keep the lives of the rest of the team in order.
Mili is originally from the island of Malekula but has lived in Port Vila for most of her adult life. She is fluent in 3 languages, including English and of course the local language Bislama.
A tireless workaholic, she is the glue that binds Air Taxi together, an integral part of the team.
We Are Committed To Extraordinary Experiences
20 Years of Experience in Aircraft Tours
Safety is the number one priority for our company; we have a rigorous training program for our pilots to exceed the Authority standards. We own our aircraft, and in fact, they are maintained in country by our own International Licensed Aircraft Engineers, the same engineers that complete pre-flight inspections of the international jets!
The Air Taxi Fleet
The payload and range of the aircraft is dependent on many variables, specifically weather, weight of passengers/cargo and the route to be flown. Please feel free to contact us with your requirements for a free quote. All aircraft are maintained by our in-house engineering team who, in addition to maintaining our fleet, provides maintenance services for Air New Zealand, Virgin, Air Pacific, Air Calin and Fiji Air. All maintenance on the Air Taxi fleet is performed to the highest standard, ensuring safety, reliability and extremely well presented aircraft.
BRITTEN-NORMAN ISLANDER BN2A-26
The twin engine Islander is the perfect aircraft for Vanuatu, being able to take payloads upwards of 700kg consisting of either all freight, up to 9 Passengers or a combination, out of any airstrip in Vanuatu. It is fully equipped for flight in poor weather conditions.
Cruise Speed: 130kts (235Km/hr)
Payload: 750kg+
Passengers: 9
Range: 400nm+ (730km)
Number in Fleet: 3
Predominant Use: Charter and Tours to Tanna
It’s About You
Your safety and convenience is absolutely our priority
Pick-up & Drop-off
Safety Checks
Rigorous Maintenance
Passenger Briefings
Clean Aircraft
Great Pilots
The Air Taxi History
Air Taxi Vanuatu is part of the Pacific Air Services Group, comprising the charter operation of Air Taxi, its maintenance facility and the group’s leasing arm, Air Leasing Pacific Ltd. It has its beginnings in 2004, when two pilots, Wayne Allport and Simon Turner, decided to start their own seaplane airline. They purchased and then flew a Maule seaplane from the Waitara River, near New Plymouth, New Zealand and ferried it 1,300 naut1cal miles to Port Vila in Vanuatu.
The Company, then known as Vanuatu Seaplanes, flew scenic fights and volcano tours from the beach at Iririki Island, in Port Vila Harbour, for several years.
In late 2009, the company sold the seaplane business and purchased a five passenger seat, wheeled, and started running volcano tours to Tanna in earnest.
Testimonials
What Our Customers Say
Hi Simon, just wanted you to know that our Air Taxi Vanuatu day tour to Tanna Island volcano was one of the most incredible experiences of our lives. I decided on the Mt Yasur Day Tour as I had already booked and paid for our accommodation in Port Vila. I heard the night tour to the volcano however was more spectacular so recommended your Overnight Tour to Yasur Volcano to my daughter as she was due to visit Vanuatu soon after me. Well, talk about an amazing adventure – we haven’t stopped talking about it! So thanks again from all of us for a very special Tanna Volcano experience and please give our regards to all your friendly staff.
We had a great trip to see Mount Yasur with AirTaxi. The volcano itself is fantastic as were the people who took us on the adventure. Special thanks to our kiwi pilot Louis who got us there and back safely and smoothly. He was a super friendly guy with a lot of interesting information to share about the area and aviation in general, as well as giving us some insider travel tips. Thanks also to Benjamin our driver and Mari our tour leader at the volcano; they were passionate, tailored the experience to our preferences and generally made the day a lot of fun.