Goroka ready for airport opening

Goroka Town residents are gearing up to open a new three level terminal building and the upgraded pavement runway, located in the heart of the town, today.

The main road leading to the airport will be closed off today for the ceremony. Police went around on Monday informing residents of the event. 

A team of high level delegates from Port Moresby will be flying into Goroka today to open the new facility, which will boost tourism in the province, which is a satellite venue for the 2018 APEC Summit.

Works on the new terminal building and runway extension costs over K100 million and is funded by the Asian Development Bank and PNG Government.

Works begun following the contract signing in October 2015.

The runway had a previous length of 1,600 metres prior to the works. It is now 1,900 metres long.

The extension will enable bigger planes like the F70 to land.

A test flight was done by Air Niugini’s F70 on Monday.

The Precision Approach Path Indicator lights, or PAPI lights for short, is an additional feature of the extended runway which will enable jets to land.

However, the runway extension was not done without opposition from residents, when the historic pine trees, which had been the landmark for peace, were cut down to clear the aerodrome for bigger planes to land.

The opening today will be officiated by Prime Minister Peter O’Neill.

Other airports undergoing upgrade include the Vanimo airport, Momote airport, Chimbu airport, Madang airport and Jackson’s airport.

More stories to come today from Goroka.

Author: 
Sally Pokiton