Papua New Guinea’s flag carrier is Air Niugini. Little discussed, it has two widebody aircraft – both Boeing 767-300ERs – among its small but diverse fleet. Averaging 27.8 years, the two-class 188-seaters will be replaced by the less exciting but much more efficient 787-8s. They will also play a key role in the transport of freight.
They average 28 years
Air Niugini’s 767s are registered P2-PXV and P2-PXW. According to ch-aviation.com, P2-PXW is the oldest, at 31.8 years. Delivered to Air Niugini in 2011, it was previously used by SAS (SE-DXK, LN-RCL) and Icelandair (TF-FIB).
More interestingly, multiple carriers leased it from Icelandair, such as the UK’s AV8 Air, Venezuela’s Santa Barbara Airlines (later SBA), Czech Republic’s Travel Service (see below), and Nigeria’s Kabo Air. And that’s no FIB.
Flightradar24 shows that P2-PXW last flew on June 22nd and remains on the ground in Brisbane, seemingly still awaiting an engine change.
In comparison, P2-PXV is 23.8 years old. Unusually, it started life as part of the Abu Dhabi Amiri Flight (registered A6-SUL), before being used by Etihad (A6-EYZ) in a normal commercial role for nearly four years.
After another spell with the VIP operator, it entered Air Niugini’s employ in July 2010. Flightradar24 shows that it is active and, therefore, presently provides the airline’s only widebody capacity.
Where the 767 is used
Examining the airline’s schedule for July-December shows that it has four 767 routes, as detailed below. Depending on the week, it has 14 to 17 weekly departures from Port Moresby.
- Port Moresby to Brisbane: daily to eight weekly
- Port Moresby to Singapore: three to five weekly
- Port Moresby to Hong Kong: three weekly
- Port Moresby to Koror: weekly
In the past 20 years, 767s were also deployed to Cairns, Manila, Tokyo Narita, and Sydney. When writing, Cairns is served using the Fokker 70 and Manila and Sydney by the 737-800. Japan’s capital has not seen Air Niugini since early 2020, and there is no indication if or when it will return.
Hang on: Singapore?
The world has many ‘exotic,’ or at least different, routes, such as Uzbekistan Airways between Tashkent and New York JFK and TAAG Angola from Luanda to São Paulo. Surely Air Niugini to Singapore is in the same category.
Air Niugini has served the 3,069-mile (4,939 km) route for many years. In 2019, the carrier had 113,000 roundtrip seats provided by the 767, 737-700, and 737-800. Booking data suggests that it sold approximately 93,000, for a seat load factor of 83%. The 767 also played a key role in freight transport in that market.
Analysis of bookings suggest that approximately 45% of passengers were point-to-point, whether diaspora, business travelers, tourists, or otherwise. Most passengers booked tickets in Papua New Guinea.
About 29% of passengers transited Singapore, mainly to Kuala Lumpur, Sibiu, Jakarta, Dhaka, and Bangkok. One in five passengers transited over Port Moresby, particularly to Honiara (Solomon Islands) and Lae (PNG). Finally, some 6% transited both Singapore and Port Moresby on the same ticket.
Source : Simple Flying
