A Pacific national carrier is “working as quickly as possible” to get a part delivered for its only Boeing 737 aircraft capable of international flights.

73 Kiwis are amongst hundreds of tourists stranded after Air Vanuatu cancelled a week’s worth of flights earlier this week, right as school holidays kicked off in New Zealand and Australia.

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Almost 20 international flights have been cancelled or rescheduled, and the airline has pulled in Nauru Airlines to keep its flight paths open.

Jonas George​, commercial manager of the New Zealand arm of Air Vanuatu confirmed to Stuff on Wednesday, that the mechanical part required for its Boeing 737 aircraft had been sourced, and the airline is working to get it to Brisbane, “as quickly as possible”.

“In the meantime, we are continuing to do what we can to get travellers where they need to be,” George said.

“We are working closely with our partners at Nauru Airlines and expect they will be able to help operate additional services at the end of this week and into next week.

“We are continuing to assist travellers stuck in Vanuatu with accommodation and meals, and we are keeping the service desk at the Port Vila airport staffed to help answer questions.”

George said the airline’s “full refund policy” for affected travellers remains in place, and guests can contact their travel agent or the customer service team to organise a refund or rebooking.

“We are also keeping the Travel Advisory page on our website up to date. We expect to have another update on the resumption of our full Australia and New Zealand schedule in the coming days, but we remain hopeful it will be back on track before the end of this week.

“Again, we are so deeply sorry for the frustration and inconvenience these unforeseen disruptions have caused our guests, especially during the busy school holiday period.”

​73 New Zealanders were registered on SafeTravel on Tuesday as being in Vanuatu with 11 of those indicating they intend to depart in the next 10 days, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) spokesperson confirmed.

​MFAT also confirmed it had received no requests for consular assistance.

“We advise New Zealanders that if their travel has been impacted, they should contact their airline or travel agent directly to seek information about updated flight schedules,” the spokesperson said.

“We recommend they also contact their travel insurance provider to see what insurance cover may apply in these circumstances.”

Earlier on Monday, Air Vanuatu issued a statement on their website informing passengers that an engineering issue caused the mass flight cancellations.

In a statement on Facebook, the airline said it couldn’t say exactly when the international flights would be up and running again, but hoped to be operational by Friday.

One Australian passenger stranded in Vanuatu, Eva Wiland, told Today that her flight scheduled for Sunday had been cancelled, and she had no information about a replacement.

“We’ve had no news. We were told not to go to the airport. Not to try to get … another flight,” she said.

“There’s a flight to Auckland tomorrow, and then we have to get another ticket, back from Auckland to Sydney. Separately.”

This isn’t the first issue Air Vanuatu has faced this year.

In March, the airline’s only Boeing 737 aircraft broke down in Brisbane just before the Easter holidays. The Air Vanuatu jet suffered an undisclosed technical fault and waited weeks for parts before it was operational.

The disruption cost the airline at least VT168 million (NZ$2.3m) from lost ticket sales alone.