The Air Taxi Crew

Meliana Samuel

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.

Lisa Beckley

Head of Operations

Lisa has over 35 years of professional flying experience and brings a huge wealth of aviation knowledge to Air Taxi. Since gaining her licence, she has amassed some 20,000 flying hours. Lisa achieved her Commercial Pilots Licence at age 19 and became a flight instructor. She worked for a number of commuter airlines, before achieving Captaincy on the Airbus A321 for American Airlines. No stranger to the tropical island life, before relocating to Vanuatu and taking the Chief Pilot position with Air Taxi, Lisa was Check Airmen and Training Captain on Boeing 737 aircraft in Hawaii.

Brian Johnstone

Chief Engineer & Maintenance Controller

Brian has been involved in aviation from an early age. Together with his wife Jules, he owns and operates an aircraft engineering facility at Port Vila Airport, Airworx Engineering Ltd. Airworx Engineering, through its aircraft leasing arm, own a number of the aircraft operated by Air Taxi. This puts Air Taxi in the unique position of having its own, dedicated aircraft engineering facility, providing the highest levels of maintenance to the Air Taxi fleet. Airworx also provides commercial jet maintenance services to Air New Zealand, Virgin, Air Fiji, Solomon Airways and Air Calin.

Possessed with the patience of a saint, for BJ, nothing is ever a problem.

Paul Dalley

Santo Base Manager

Paul, our Santo Base Manager, will show you northern Vanuatu like no other pilot could. He’s been flying since the age of 12. He is experienced on over fifty types of aircraft, has flight instructed in New Zealand, piloted seaplanes in America, flown in air shows in Japan and ferried a number of aircraft across the Pacific. Paul has chosen to make the island of Espirito Santo, in northern Vanuatu, his home, after arriving here five years ago and falling in love with the place.

Paul comes from a long line of aviators and continues his family’s passion for aviation, so much so that he named his son ‘Air’. Paul has a special love of flying and with an intimate knowledge of Santo and northern Vanuatu, he can show off the best that this beautiful part of the country has to offer.

Quentin Fourrage

Line Pilot

Originally from France, Quentin travelled the world with his nomadic family until they decided to settle in Vanuatu for its kind people and the country’s unique way of life. Quentin trained in New Zealand where he achieved his commercial pilot’s licence and instructor endorsement.

A keen surfer, in his spare time you will often find him riding the waves at the local break at Pango.

Ansen Jimmy

Transfer driver

A formula one driver in a previous life, Ansen is in charge of ensuring your swift, safe transfer, to and from the airport. A born entrepreneur, with his ever growing fleet of buses he deals with the stresses of organising the collection of up to 30 people per tour, from multiple resorts with aplomb.