Air Niugini domestic routes will not be affected by the airline’s rationalisation of routes strategy.
Managing Director, Alan Milne, said the airline will be focusing on its domestic product as it aims to become more competitive.
During his presentation to the POM Chamber of Commerce, he revealed that loss-making routes would be suspended.
He announced that Townsville, Denpasar, Shanghai and Tokyo flights were affected by this.
“None of the domestic routes will be affected. In fact, quite the opposite. We’re really concentrating in our domestic product, we want to be competitive in price and we want to be competitive in timing and the schedule that we deliver and the ports that we fly as well.
“And that’s part of this program of going out and talking to people like the POM Chamber of Commerce, Lae and Madang Chamber of Commerce to get their feedback, about what we can do for them as our customer, what do they want because we don’t know unless we ask,” said Milne.
The rationalisation of routes is part of the cost reduction strategy of the Higher Altitudes’ Program launched last year.
The program focuses on three other pillars of steady revenue, people and customer and operational excellence.
“That’s the importance of the four pillars. We have to do all four at once,” Milne stated.
“We have to control our costs, we have to enhance our revenue wherever we can, be that with codeshare partners wherever we can, we have to look after our people and develop them, and we have to look after our customer.
“And by that I mean we have to deliver the schedule we publish, we have to make sure that we are on time, that our aircrafts are available to operate the routes as required.”