Air Niugini Totally Explained

Everything about Air Niugini totally explained

Air Niugini Limited is the national airline of Papua New Guinea, based in Port Moresby. It operates a domestic network from Port Moresby and Lae, as well as limited international services. Its main base is Jacksons International Airport, Port Moresby. Niugini is the Tok Pisin word for New Guinea.

History

The airline was established in November 1973 as the national airline of Papua New Guinea with the government holding 60% of the shares, Ansett (16%), Qantas (12%) and Trans Australia Airlines (TAA) (12%).
   International services commenced very early on in the history of the airline with a leased Boeing B720 from 6 February 1976 to 2 February 1977. This was later replaced with a Boeing 707 purchased from Qantas. During the late 1970s, internal services were performed by a combination of Fokker F28 jet and Fokker F27 turbo-prop aircraft. By the end of 1975 Air Niugini leased Boeing 727-200 type aircraft from Ansett and TAA to serve routes to Brisbane. The airline also acquired a lease of a Boeing 707 from Qantas to commence a weekly service to Manila and Hong Kong.
   In 1984 the airline replaced the two Boeing 707 aircraft with an Airbus A300 on lease from TAA. This was replaced several years later with two Airbus A310s as the carrier expanded to offer flights principally between Australian Eastern capital cities and destinations in Asia such as Singapore and Manila.
   The airline endured considerable hardships in the 1990s, with unrest in Bougainville and a volcanic eruption in Rabaul destabilising the company's busiest domestic services. The Asian currency crisis also made an impact, with Air Niugini posting financial losses during this decade. The government of Papua New Guinea responded by cutting jobs from the airline, suppressing wages, as well as opening offices in Asia and Europe in an attempt at having the airline run profitably. The reforms bore fruit by 2003, with the airline posting a profit of US$15.8 million for that year.
   A Boeing 767 was acquired in August 2002, replacing the Airbus aircraft, and was used to offer expanded international services. Combined with aggressive pricing, this made it the most competitively priced airline on many of its routes. A sharing agreement still exists with Qantas in which that airline buys "blocks" of seats on Air Niugini's flights between Port Moresby and Australia. Qantas also has a code share agreement for seats between Cairns in Australia and Port Moresby.
   The financial turnaround seems to have stymied pressure from various sectors, including the IMF and the Australian Government, to privatise the national carrier. The PNG government has voiced concerns that privatisation would jeopardise domestic routes that provide a vital service to regional people and encourage economic development, but which fail to realise a profit.
   From September 2004 Fokker F100 have been introduced to start to replace the aging Fokker F28 aircraft that are used on domestic routes, the daily Cairns service, and the twice a week service to Honiara in the Solomon Islands.
   In March 2006 Transport and Civil Aviation Minister Don Polye announced an open air policy, which would allow other airlines to fly international routes into and from Papua New Guinea. The policy will take effect in 2007.
   On December 2007 Air Niugini returned its leased Boeing 767 aircraft to its owners, Viva Macau. The airline has taken up a lease with Icelandair for a Boeing 757-200 and expects to order its own Boeing 767-300ER aircraft from Royal Brunei Airlines.
   On the 18th of April, 2008, Flights commenced on the Sydney-Port Moresby route initially using leased Embraer 190 aircraft leased from SkyAirWorld of Australia. Air Niugini has introduced the Boeing 757-200 to replace the 767-300 that's lease ended in late 2007. Currently the airline has expressed interest in purchasing one 767-300ER from Royal Brunei Airlines. The airline has also shown interest in the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner, with the government mentioning that'll be committed if the airline 787 order goes ahead.

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