Air Niugini, the national carrier of Papua New Guinea, has signed a firm order with Airbus for the Airbus A220 family of aircraft.
The airline will sign for six single-aisle A220-100s, which will be ordered with Airbus directly. they will also acquire three A220-300s and another two A220-100s from third-party lessors, bringing a total of 11 aircraft to the fleet.
The A220 will be operated by Air Niugini across its domestic and regional network. The new fleet will deliver more capacity and greater reliability across the domestic network and enable the carrier to fly from the capital Port Moresby to new destinations across the Asia-Pacific region.
To support their deployment, Air Niugini has selected a flight planning support system from Airbus subsidiary NAVBLUE for its fleet. Called N-Flight Planning (N-FP), the solution will help the airline optimise fuel, time and cost to meet operational needs while ensuring overall safety and compliance.
The order was announced at a special event in Port Moresby by Gary Seddon, Acting Chief Executive Officer Air Niugini and Anand Stanley, President Airbus Asia-Pacific, in the presence of the Hon. James Marape, Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea and Hon. William Duma, Minister for State Enterprises.
In Quotes
Gary Seddon, Acting Chief Executive Officer of Air Niugini said:
“This is a milestone in the history of our national airline that will support the growth of trade and tourism in Papua New Guinea. The new aircraft will offer the highest levels of comfort for our passengers, while also ensuring a significant reduction in fuel consumption and emissions when compared to the aircraft they will replace.”
Minister Duma said:
“This is a momentous occasion for Air Niugini. Coinciding with the airline’s 50th Anniversary, Air Niugini secures six new regional jets that will revolutionise travel for the citizens of Papua New Guinea. I am looking forward to welcoming the ‘People’s Balus’ (the people’s plane) to our skies”.
Christian Scherer, Airbus Chief Commercial Officer and Head of International said:
“Air Niugini has seen how much more the A220 brings to their airline than the competing product in this space, so much more efficiency, range, comfort and growth potential. We thank Air Niugini for its confidence in Airbus and are committed to offering our full support to the airline as it transitions to its new fleet.”
Upgrading the fleet
Air Niguni has a mixed fleet, with input from Boeing, Fokker and De Havilland. In this case, the existing Fokker 70 and Fokker 100 aircraft (6 and 7 aircraft respectively) will be targeted in the renewal.
These will offer a lot more range than the existing aircraft, allowing Air Niguni to open up new routes if they wish.
Whilst there will be fewer aircraft in the renewal, the extra seat counts should help in a lot of respects, allowing the airline to explore possibilities, as well as strengthen capacity on existing routes.
And who knows – maybe another order or lease in the future may come along if they are successful.
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