Air Niugini in a statement has advised its customers that effective from 1am Saturday 22nd January, fully vaccinated international passengers can fly into Queensland with no requirement for any quarantine on arrival. Passengers will be required to self-conduct a Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) within 24 hours of arriving in Australia.
Fully vaccinated passengers have been allowed to fly into Sydney, NSW since late last year without quarantine.
Air Niugini operates six services per week to Brisbane (daily except Mondays), twice weekly to Cairns (on Wednesdays and Saturdays), and a Monday service direct to Sydney, NSW.
At present travel remains restricted to Australian Citizens, Permanent Residents and New Zealanders normally residing in Australia. Additionally on 15 December 2021, a number of other visa holders were also approved for travel. The full list can be accessed at https://covid19.homeaffairs.gov.au/vaccinated-travellers under “New arrangements for eligible visa holders”
Air Niugini expects travel to be extended to other visa holders such as tourists in early February. Intending international travellers who are not yet vaccinated are advised to get vaccinated.
Passengers are also reminded that the Green Card PNG Vaccination Certificate is not valid for international travel, as it does not include the persons Date of Birth or Passport Number, The PNG International Certificate of Covid Vaccination is available from NDoH at email: martzpogo@gmail.com or nonwovienna@gmail.com .
Travel to Australia
Passengers are required to complete a new “document” being the Australian Travel Declaration/ATD including as part of this an attestation (confirmation) that the passenger is fully vaccinated and the certificate is valid. The ATD is a mobile phone App and available for download at the Apple iPhone Store for iPhone, and Google Store for Android phones. Initial one off entry of set-up information takes about 15 minutes, so it is recommended this is downloaded and updated prior to coming to the airport. Manual paper forms will be available at check-in if required. Passenger do not need to complete the “Queensland International Arrivals Registration”
All passengers departing internationally on Air Niugini flights, including to Australia, will still need to complete a negative PCR test at Port Moresby airport at time of check-in. Access to testing opens four hours before departure (for flights to Australia) or five hours before departure for all other destinations, and closes two hours prior to scheduled departure time.
Travel to Papua New Guinea
Passengers travelling to PNG are reminded they still need to get Pandemic Controller’s approval prior to check-in.
This process normally takes between 7-21 days, and applications can be emailed to nocapproval@airniugini.com.pg Whilst quarantine is only required for passengers arriving from India and Philippines, all passengers still need to include an approved place of quarantine on the I-APTF just in case they test positive on arrival.
Additionally passengers need to be fully vaccinated and undertake a negative PCR test within 72 hours of scheduled departure. This may be as a SMS message. For passengers departing Brisbane and Sydney Airports, Histopath provide tests on the day of departure and these can be booked and paid for online in advance. Passengers also need to complete the PNG Health Declaration form at https://www.pnghdf.info/ It is recommended that passengers bring three hard copies of all documentation to the airport with them. Passenger are required to complete a negative Rapid test on arrival at Port Moresby airport.
Wearing of face masks in the airport terminals and on board the aircraft is mandatory, hand sanitizers are provided for your protection, and social distancing is followed wherever practical in order to ensure your international travel remains as safe as possible.
