A vehicle air conditioning apparatus includes: a refrigerant circuit in which a compressor, a heat source side heat exchanger, an expansion device, and a load side heat exchanger are connected by pipes; and a controller that performs switching between a heating operation in which refrigerant in the refrigerant circuit circulates and a defrosting operation of the heat source side heat exchanger in which the refrigerant in the refrigerant circuit circulates in a direction opposite to a direction in the heating operation. The controller allows an airflow flowing from the load side heat exchanger into a cabin through a first air outlet in the heating operation, and an airflow flowing from the cabin into the load side heat exchanger through the first air outlet is produced in the defrosting operation of the heat source side heat exchanger.