New Zealand's last repatriation flight from Port Vila is taking off today after a deadly 7.3 magnitude earthquake on Tuesday.
Passengers heading home on the RNZAF Boeing 757 on Saturday afternoon included stranded tourists of various nationalities, returning disaster response officials and media.
Staff at the the Bauerfield International Airport International Airport in the capital Port Vila said repairs to the quake-damaged international terminal were ongoing.
The intention was to resume commercial airline services on Monday, but for now flights were suspended.
Fiji Airways, Qantas, Jetstar and Solomon Airlines were all interested in resuming flights, Jason Rakau, the chief executive of Airports Vanuatu, told RNZ.
"We've done our best to do this so that we can enable commercial airlines to bring stranded passengers, particularly Vanuatu citizens, back to the country.
"And also passengers that have been stranded here in Vanuatu, allowing them to return to their respective homes and families and hopefully before Christmas so they can have a good Christmas…
"We encourage affected passengers who have been disrupted by the cancellation of flights over the last few days to contact the relevant airlines over the next coming hours and days to reconfirm bookings, as we slowly recover from this situation that we're in."
The runways and taxiways were luckily unaffected by the quake, Rakau said, as was the building structure.
"We've confirmed that by bringing in a certified aviation infrastructure engineer who conducted an assessment yesterday to confirm this. From our initial assessments, and he has confirmed that yes, there has been no damage sustained to our airport infrastructure and that they are certified for safe operations."
Water needed
The head of World Vision Vanuatu said international assistance was making a real difference following the quake, but the situation remained grave.
Sixteen people have been confirmed killed - a number expected to rise.
World Vision Vanuatu director Clement Chipokolo told RNZ's Saturday Morning programme much of Port Vila is without power and water, and some roads are still closed.
Water was urgently needed, he said.
"The situation is increasingly becoming dire, with potential epidemics breaking out because of lack of water. So that's where now we are supporting the Department of Water, working alongside other partners, to start the distribution of water.
"So right now as I speak, we have deployed one of our teams that's doing some water tracking."
Chipokolo said World Vision was distributing jerry cans and hygiene kits to reduce the risk of disease spreading.
Meanwhile, search and rescue teams were scouring the rubble of pancaked buildings, but hope was fading that anyone trapped would be found alive.
