PNG Air

Chairman of the Company’s Board of Directors, Murray Woo, said “Muralee believes that after more than 5 years in the role and with rebranding and the initial stage of the re-fleeting program successfully completed, it is time for him to move on, and to allow someone with a new perspective and a different set of ideas to come in and take the Company through the next stage of its development”.Mr Siva was appointed as CEO in November 2012, and has overseen a great deal of change in the airline.  Under his watch, the airline has implemented a strategy of focussing more on regular passenger tra

“We are a relatively small company but our staff feel strongly that we also need to play our part and this is one way that we can help.“PNG Air is doing our best to support the relief operation and has made our Dash 8 freighter available at no charge to assist with moving these desperately needed supplies to the people in need.

“With the support of NAC we have opened the Connections Lounges in Mt Hagen and Lae primarily to cater for our corporate and frequent travelers,” said Paul Abbot, Chief Commercial Officer PNG Air.

“The Connection Lounge offers light refreshments in a quiet comfortable environment for our travellers prior to boarding their flight. It’s an ideal place to relax, finish off some last minute work or catch up with fellow travellers.

“Initially the lounges are by invite only while we develop the operating procedures required to fully support our valued customers.

PNG Air CEO, Muralee Siva, announced this during the company’s annual general meeting.

He said the aerodrome upgrades that are currently being done are disruptive and limit the operations they can carry out.

“For example, the Goroka airport upgrade that is still not completed limits our ability to take the ATRs to that port, with a negative impact on the bottom-line.”

Siva added: “We have internet reception problems in most of the ports, which in turn affects our on-time performance.

PNG Air board chairman, Murray Woo, said at the company’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) yesterday that following a financially challenging year in 2016, the airline is now positioned strongly to achieve improved returns.

“Once again we are using the highly talented Vocal Fusion singers to entertain our passengers while they travel with us.

“While the Christmas period is a happy time quite often the stress of travelling is an issue for people and we hope that this entertainment will help lower that stress.” said Paul Abbot PNG Air Chief Commercial Officer.

“From the most recent season of Vocal Fusion we have Jimlas Larry, Archy Tazzi, Theresa Miria and the winner Francisca Tulugenaram on board and entertaining passengers”, said Abbot.

Their seventh ATR 72-600 aircraft (P2-ATF) arrived in PNG on Thursday, November 16, at 10:30pm.

The aircraft is currently undergoing modifications required to prepare it for commercial operations.

It will commence service on the new schedule starting 04 December.

“We are pleased to welcome the latest addition to our fleet and the opportunity that this brings to further increase capacity and frequency on our domestic schedule,” said Paul Abbot, chief commercial officer.

The airline in announcing its 2017 half year results say the company achieved positive results in terms of profit compared to last year’s.

The airline introduced its 6th brand new ATR 72-600 aircraft in June as part of the strategy.

PNG Air’s CEO Muralee Siva said “We were able to increase passenger revenue by nearly 27% compared to the corresponding period in 2016, despite having the same overall capacity. 

This indicates the attraction of the ATRs we’ve been bringing in to replace the older Dash 8 aircraft and justifies the strategy we’ve followed”.

“I am very happy to confirm that PNG Air as part of the new schedule starting Monday 14 August has begun services to Wapenamanda,” said Paul Abbot, PNG Air’s Chief Commercial Officer.

“Initially we will be operating Monday, Wednesday and Friday from Port Moresby to Wapenamanda but we are confident that as time goes on and local support builds we will be able to introduce additional flights into the schedule,” Mr Abbot said.

“The airline will be flying 3 days each week between Cairns and Lihir Island using our new ATR 72-600 aircraft,” said Muralee Siva, Chief Executive PNG Air.

“We have been working with Newcrest Mining for a number of years now on their domestic PNG travel and it’s been great to move up to providing all of their air travel needs including the international flights to Cairns,” Mr Siva added.

PNG Air is a PNG based airline which operates both scheduled passenger services and provides charter support for many of the country’s largest mining and resource companies.