Air Niugini’s Officer in Charge, Captain Samiu Taufa, has confirmed that for the period of 14th to 22nd December 93% of planned services operated.
Some 575 out of 618 flights operated, with the remainder mainly being affected by bad weather including at Wewak and ongoing maintenance issues with aging aircraft.
“The staff and management of Air Niugini remain committed to getting Christmas travellers to their destination safely, and without significant delay,” Captain Taufa said.
“Christmas is the busiest time of the year when Air Niugini flight crew and staff are working their hardest to get aircraft safely away to their destinations.
“Despite periods where individual Fokker and Dash 8 aircraft are not in service for maintenance checks and servicing, replacement aircraft are being brought forward as quickly as possible.
“The bad weather in Wewak on Friday and Saturday caused 10 flights to be cancelled as a result of flooding on the runway.
“As of yesterday, the third Airbus A220 entered service on its maiden Air Niugini commercial flight taking passengers to Kavieng.
“There are reports from around the world of massive delays and passengers camping out in airports overnight from Fiji to the United States to Europe.
“Air Niugini staff are committed to preventing those levels of delay so we can get passengers to their loved ones on the day of their scheduled travel.
“We now have enough aircraft available and it all comes down to managing the flow of passengers through the terminals with the right aircraft type for each destination.
“There are still some tickets available for sale for last-minute Christmas travel.
“Customers should check the Air Niugini website or contact a sales office or your preferred travel agents to purchase tickets.”
Captain Taufa also reminded all airline passengers to plan their arrival time at the airport so they avoid long queues outside the terminal waiting to check in for their flights.
“To make travel easier, passengers are advised not to arrive at the airport too early or they could be waiting outside the terminal until their flight is called forward for check-in.
“Arriving three hours before the ticketed departure time is ideal ready for airline staff to call for check-in at the right time.
“With only a few days remaining before our most Holy day in the year, the people of our Nation can rest assured that we will continue do all we can to get everyone home to their loved ones for Christmas.
“We will continue to update news about peak period travel and flight times over the remaining days leading to Christmas, before turning our focus on getting people back to work or school on their return journeys in January.”
