INCREASED FLIGHT CAPACITY COULD DECREASE AIRFARES

By Nigel MADO

With the anticipated arrival of Air Niugini’s Airbus A220 Fleet in late 2025, the National Flag carrier could see a decrease in Flight charges, as the increase in passenger capacity will be able to cover the cost of flight, as indicated by Air Niugini Chief Executive Officer, Gary Seddon during the Aviation Sub-Sector Committee meeting recently.

Notwithstanding the very real issue of the cost of air travel around PNG, Seddon stated that the new fleet will obviously bring operating efficiencies, which they will take advantage of, and then potential savings from those efficiencies will be passed on to the consumer for fair fare reduction.

He said that Operating efficiencies is one thing, and expanding capacity of the operation is another, so the more seats that are available for destination means they can fly more and will provide ANG with greater scope, by providing a spread of airfares.

“An example is, if I can only fly a Dash 8 Classic between here and Rabaul, then it’s likely that the airfares are going to be exceptionally high, because you’re spreading the cost of the seat across fewer passengers,” Seddon said.

“You can carry 150 passengers to Rabaul, and you can spread the cost of that flight over each of those seats, and therefore reduce the cost of travel. So, there’s only so much in that equation that ANG can do, because we obviously have our cost of operations, and the rest of it comes down to having a good airport infrastructure.”

“If we have extended and strengthened roadways, if we have rescue firefighting equipment, if we have the appropriate GSE, if we have appropriate facilities, landing lights, battery systems, area navigation, all of those things, then we can ultimately fly larger aircraft to more destinations.”

Picture Supplied.