Air Niugini will be operating its first Boeing 737 commercial flight into Kagamuga airport, Mount Hagen commencing next Monday 14th December following a successful test flight yesterday (Thursday 10th Dec) from Port Moresby to Hagen and back.
Air Niugini has upgraded and increased flights on its domestic sector to ensure smooth operations during the peak period, allowing Papua New Guineans to arrive home in time to celebrate Christmas and New Year with families and loved ones.
The B737 aircraft will become a regular sight at Mount Hagen thereafter.
Air Niugini’s Chief Executive Officer, Mr Bruce Alabaster said by using the B737 to Mount Hagen, this will allow the Fokker jet aircraft that currently service the route to be used to increase capacity elsewhere during the peak period.
“Mount Hagen is the largest transport and economic hub for the Highlands region. The Boeing 737-700 will carry up to 116 passengers per flight (12 Business and 104 Economy) and this will greatly assist in meeting demand during the busiest time of the year, thereby offering the fastest, smoothest, and most comfortable flights for our customers,” said Mr Alabaster.
He also said Link PNG’s recently acquired second Q400 aircraft has been delivered to Port Moresby today.
The Q400 will be utilized mostly on the Rabaul sector during the peak period.
The runway length at Tokua Airport has been temporarily shortened by the National Airports Corporation (NAC) to allow for urgent runway maintenance works. As a result, all Air Niugini flights to and from Tokua are rescheduled onto smaller Dash-8 aircraft, however, the increased seat capacity provided by the two Q400 aircraft will ensure passenger demand is met, especially students returning home for the festive break.
Elsewhere on the network Air Niugini and Link PNG have also increased flights:
• Up to 7 daily flights between Port Moresby and Lae
• Twice daily flights to Goroka and Madang
• Daily Fokker flights to Kavieng, including nonstop services on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Other days operate via Hoskins or Manus.
• Twice daily flights to Wewak – one nonstop, and the other via Lae/Madang.
• Daily Fokker flights to Vanimo
• 5 services weekly to Buka (Mon, Tue, Thu, Fri, Sat), plus an extra service on Wednesday 16 December
• Daily flights to Daru
• Daily direct Fokker flights to Hoskins, plus a daily Dash-8 service POM-LAE-HKN-RAB
To assist with the uplift of freight and urgent supplies, Link PNG now offers daily Dash-8 “Combi” flights covering Lae, Hoskins, Rabaul, Mt Hagen, Kiunga, Tabubil, Daru, Wewak, Buka, and Kieta.
In addition to passengers, the Dash-8 Combi aircraft can carry up to 2 tonnes of freight.
Mr Alabaster said “We are delighted to be able to provide the greater capacity and reliability of services that our customers deserve during this period. “We thank all our valued customers for choosing to fly Air Niugini, especially with the challenges of COVID pandemic this year, and wish you and your families a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous 2021.”
Air Niugini continues to operate with strict health and safety measures in place including temperature testing of all passengers and providing face masks and hand sanitizer to ensure your air travel is safe.
