Kelly said the airline's existing management team would remain in place. "Air Vanuatu is critical to the people of the Republic of Vanuatu and a strategically important business to the nation," Kelly said. "Our team is working closely with management to ensure continuity of service to customers and to ensure services continue as seamlessly as possible. The outlook for the airline is positive, despite pressures on the broader industry, and we will be focused on securing the future of this strategically vital national carrier." Affected travelers would be informed of this disruption and rebooked on flights as soon as operations resumed, the statement said.

Australian tourist Sally Witchalls said she and four friends had been checking out of their Port Vila hotel on Wednesday morning when they were told at reception that their Air Vanuatu flight would not fly that day. She has since discovered that her travel insurance did not cover an airline going into voluntary administration, as Air Vanuatu had done, or bankrupt. "We're now on our own working out how we pay for the accommodation from here on out while we wait to see how the situation with Air Vanuatu unfolds," Witchalls told ABC. The Vanuatu Tourism Office's chief executive said the administrator was in discussions with Virgin Australia and Fiji Airways, airlines that currently service Vanuatu, about flying stranded passengers.

(More Vanuatu stories.)