International Travel

This was effective Friday 05^th August.

PNG Pandemic Controller and Police Commissioner, David Manning, issued the latest Pandemic Order no. 2 on Friday, which removes all requirements for COVID-19 tests on arrival in the country.

All Air Niugini inbound passengers from Australia, Asia and the Pacific can now travel into Port Moresby without having to do any COVID-19 tests on arrival.

Air Niugini Chief Executive Officer, Bruce Alabaster, said the airline suffered this loss in the last two years.

“So we’ve managed that through cost control, et cetera, and we were profitable last year,” he stated during a recent visit to Lae.

“We were probably one of the very, very few airlines who were profitable last year.

“We’re expecting a better profit this year but right through that period, we’d have to pay all our national staff every payday; all their superannuation, et cetera, is absolutely up-to-date.

“However, tests for passengers arriving from Singapore, the Philippines and China, including Hong Kong, are still required but the testing fee has been reduced to K150 per passenger,” said Air Niugini.

“Passengers arriving from Asia are required to download and complete the ‘LooK PASS’ app in advance from the Apple - AppStore or for Androids, from the Google Play Store. 

“We strongly recommend creating a LooK PASS account prior to your flight to PNG, also noting that establishing the account requires you to verify a link sent to your chosen email address.”

With the announcement of reopening their borders, Australia will allow for all travelling passengers including Papua New Guinea from February 21, and the Philippines from February 10.

It is necessary that for both countries, travelers must be fully vaccinated but will not need to quarantine upon arrival, however, normal visa requirements still apply.

Direct travel services from Papua New Guinea to Cairns is still banned by the Queensland Government, until 26 March.

"If you're double vaccinated, we look forward to welcoming you back," Prime Minister Scott Morrison said.

The reopening, on 21 February, will be welcome news for many sectors including international education.

Australia has had some of the world's strictest border controls throughout the coronavirus pandemic.

In March 2020, the government closed the borders. It barred most foreigners from entering the country and put caps on total arrivals to help combat Covid.

This is now a requirement for travel to most countries, including Papua New Guinea. Exemption from vaccination for children is dependent on the requirements of their destination country.

Certificates valid for travel includes (amongst others) the PNG International Certificate of COVID Vaccination (ICCV), the WHO yellow card, the Australian COVID-19 Digital Vaccination Certificate, as well as compliant certificates issued by other countries.

From 15th December, this will also apply for those travelling to Tasmania from 15^th December.  In a statement, the airline said travel would initially be limited to Australian citizens, permanent residents and special visa holders.

“We do expect this to extend to business travellers and tourists soon after. Parents, or parents-in-law of Australian citizens and permanent residents, who are fully vaccinated are eligible to apply for approval to travel to Australia on the Australian Government’s Department of Home Affairs website,” said the statement

Most international airlines who fly into Australia are likely to accept only vaccinated passengers, with larger carriers now considering whether it is logistically and commercially viable to sell tickets to unvaccinated travellers. Some carriers have had their allocation of unvaccinated passengers capped at zero.