PNG’s renowned airline, Air Niugini, has reported losing several licensed aircraft maintenance engineers recently due to the fact that the engineers had to leave the airline and move out of the country to further their careers in Australia.
This was stated by Minister for State Enterprise, William Duma, in a statement released from his office yesterday.
“Aviation is very competitive”, Duma said.
He added that these former employees have benefitted from Air Niugini’s comprehensive skills development programs.
The minister said this expressing the challenges Air Niugini faces as a commercial airline in response to recent concerns raised on social media in regards to the credibility and reliability of Air Niugini’s fleet following recent flight disruptions from the airline.
Duma said Air Niugini’s executive team has commenced recruitment programs for engineering and flight operations under new Acting CEO, Gary Seddon.
“The previous CEO should have been recruiting into these vacancies last year when it was apparent Air Niugini had staffing issues”, Duma added.
Meanwhile the state enterprise minister expressed that although it had a negative impact on Air Niugini, he commended its former aircraft maintenance engineers that had moved on to greener pastures, saying this is a proud outcome for our skilled citizens.
