POSSIBILTY OF GROUNDING OF AIR NIUGINI BY CASA PNG AND ICAO(International Civil Aviat
Port Moresby
05th April 2024
.
The following is a summary of what is happening at the PMG’s national airline;
■1) CASA PNG (Civil Aviation Safety Authority) has stood down few senior Air Niugini Executives, including the Acting CEO-Garry Seddon others including COO-Narara.
This is very serious concern that CASA PNG may revoke (cancell) Air Niugini's Airline Operating Certificate (AOC), resulting in the grounding of the airline.
■2) The Acting CEO, Mr Garry Seddon has been relieved of the position Acting CEO of Air Niugini Limited by the ANL Board, however the 6x COO positions and incumbents are illegally sitting on non existent positions which must be corrected as soon as possible by the incoming Acting CEO as requested by CASA.
ANL board is now lost as to what action to take next and have not convened another meeting all through this week and now weekend. Its very confusing.
■3) CASA representing ICAO and through IOSA had demanded Air Niugini management to fix and correct certain safety areas deemed unsafe, including the rejection of the new organisational structure with 6 Chief Operating Officers, one for each division but due to no action by board and management, have directly intervened and stood down the executives as mentioned.
■4) The sacking of some experienced executives and Senior Managers including experience pilots earlier and replaced with new ones, brought questions on whether the airline had sufficient Fit & Proper Person's (FPP) passed executives to guarantee meeting CASA PNG safety requirements.
■5) Since the standing down of the a/CEO on the 2nd of April 2024 till todate, 06th of April 2024, the airline has been left without a team-leader and CEO which is also a safety concern for CASA PNG to take action.
■6) To make matters worse, a major audit by international Civil Aviation Authority (ICAO) through IOSA(International Operational Safety Audit) is scheduled for July this year and with no management in place, with ANL Board in confusion, the airline is facing an imminent grounding by IOSA by not renewing its AOC.
■7) Even if a new CEO is appointed soon, 3 months to July is insufficient time to identify and correct so many lack or compromised areas as pointed out by CASA PNG already.
■8) The board and KCH have been busy talking about bringing 2xB787 dreamliners and 11x Airbuses costing billions while their industry based safety and operational foundations have suffered at the hands of a rookie management team now culmination with the possible shutdown of the people's airline,
unless an experience Aviation Management person is sourced, locally or internationally to fix the mess if at all possible.
■9) And should Air Niugini fail to renew its AOC audit by both CASA PNG and IOSA(International Operational Safety Audit); political interference will be the main cause of destroying a good airline, the people's airline.
While we are anticipating CASA PNG to revoke AOC and ground the airline if no action is taken swiftly by ANL Board, there is an IOSA audit scheduled for Air Niugini for July which will suspend the license.
Air Niugini may be grounded if not by CASA then it will surely be done by ICAO (International Civil Aviation Authority).