Airbus A220 to arrive in late 2025

Papua New Guinea’s national airline company Air Niugini is expecting the arrival of its new Airbus A220 towards the end of 2025, according to acting chief executive officer Gary Seddon.

Mr Seddon said the new Airbus A220s will replace the timid Fokkers and become the mainstay to Air Niugini’s fleet, boosting its flight capacities on a daily basis at affordable prices.

The addition of the three Boeing 737-800 aircrafts this year have assisted in its operations apart from the Dash 8 Q400 and the fokkers with flights between Port Moresby and Lae as main routes.

“The additional fleet is allowing us the opportunity to commence services such as our very popular Lae Express and to coin JB's point about the Tomodachi airport, it demonstrates what you can do when you have two really good pieces of infrastructure in Port Moresby and in Lae and then fly a very reliable aircraft between the two,” Mr Seddon said.

“So, we have four daily services that fly back and forth between Lae each day, you can almost set your clock by it and it's also not only about building integrity into the schedule but offering a greater spread of airfares.

“We can provide cheaper airfares because we've got more capacity flying between the two points.

Mr Seddon admitted that the national flag carrier has been operating with aging fleets and incurring huge costs to maintain and operate over time, prompting the continued flight cancellations.

However, with the support of Kumul Consolidated Holdings Ltd and the government, it will ensure the newest addition to the fleet arrives sooner.

The acting CEO said over the next four years the airline will undertake a substantial capital investment program with aircraft financing on track.

He added that improving the fleet capacity would boost domestic operations and international flights.