PNG Govt. (Air Niugini) buys APNG

[Stiaman]

Anyone got any more info on this? Just got an email, but no specifics as yet, expect a lot of duplicated staff to go, but great synergy's and of course a virtual monopoly in all aspects aviation within PNG.

[troppo]

http://www.pomsox.com.pg/publications/220911_110921_airlines_png_media_release.pdf

[LeadSled]

Folks,
Given the long time financial problems of APNG, something had to give.
A lot of Government pension money tied up in APNG.
Tootle pip!!

[Che cows with guns]

Actually Lead Sled APNG are a very profitable company. I am sure if you look at the POM SOX site you will see that they made a quite respectable profit last year. Air Niugini on the other hand loses money hand over fist, it is a legacy state owned Airline. Definitely an odd coupling. What does this mean for the VB/Pac blue code share which I think is due to be renewed soon.
PNG is due to experience amazing growth in the next few years think LNG the clean green fuel of the future two massive projects just starting- and a Carbon conscious world. Then there is Gold who's price will not go down in the forseeable future as the world stumbles along recovering from it's debt hangover. Not to mention all the other resource projects coming on line. They really have an embarrassment of riches. They simply cannot man up fast enough to do all the work on offer. They are doing incredibly well and suffering from a lack of manpower, aircraft and infrastructure. The decision to work together with the government and Air Niugini for the greater good would seem sound. APNG have sound management and big contracts plus an RPT network that has a load factor in the 90's. They carry enormous amounts of freight and have a pretty good work force, so it is a win for Air Niugini.
What astounds me about this is that it is not a take-over as such but a merger, according to the press release. In Australia you would never get away with this, it would be akin to Telstra and Optus merging.
Definitely interesting times ahead. Life is never dull in PNG

[Waghi Warrior]

I thought APNG were just about broke 700000 kina is more like a loss. Anyway I'm not going to argue the point.

Air Niugini will retain what they want out of APNG and ditch what they don't want. At the end of the day AIr Niugini doesn't need APNG where as APNG needs Air NIugini. I would be somewhat concerned if I worked for APNG at the moment as their will be some jobs go with this right across the board me thinks. On positive thing about all this is that it will ultimately lift flight standards as the APNG pilots who remain will have to comply with Air Niugini's procedures and not APNG's Good for the cadets ! This may even also help alleviate the pilot shortage problem that currently exists in PNG at the moment.

Fun times ahead, starting today !:)

[tail wheel]

The press release talks of a merger, not take over, which implies partial privatisation of PX?

I wonder whether the resultant private equity in PX will be solely the current APNG share holders?

[Stiaman]

So did the Wild family sell their share holding in APNG to the PNG Govt, or was it a raid on the POMSOX?. I can't see how management from both companies would sit together over the last few months and come to a conclusion such as this, without a catalyst.
Very interesting to see how they are going to handle issues like seniority, promotion, check & training, basing and tours, just for a start. Ha ha, this is going to be rich.

[Boney]

"Carbon conscious world"????

Except the 2 worst offenders, Australia and the US.

[Shed Dog Tosser]

Waghi Warrior,

You have a rather disrespectful attitude towards the APNG guys and gals, merger or take over, who really cares.

Two things I can tell you for sure:

1) the two groups are no longer competitors,
2) If you work for either entity, you will soon be sharing a cockpit with pilots from the other entity, the same ones you show such disdain for.

Merger or take over, if attitudes like your small minded one is allowed to continue, both groups will not stand a chance as they will be too busy infighting.

[fastfokker]

Ha ha, PX is enough of a circus without this, how are the crewing boys going to get their heads around this? Start the music.........

[Waghi Warrior]

SDT sorry to offend and I take back what I said.

I was pointing out the fact that some jobs could go due to duplicate positions and in reality they could go from both sides.

[ResumeOwnNav]

The APNG board still has to vote on agreeing to merge.

As for APNG needing Air Niugini, I'd think it would be the other way around! APNG has a bigger fleet, has an enormous percentage of the country's charter work and is profitable.

APNG pilots flying at a lower standard to their Niugini peers... that's a bit rough!

I think the arrangement will end up like the Qlink Sunnies / Eastern deal. Separate entities operating under one brand cooperatively.

Nav.

[Ricky Bobby]

Both companies have trouble turning a profit. I am an APNG shareholder (I know I know, a weak moment) and I am well aware of the company's financial status. AND the shortchanging of allowances when funds get tight! Wild family still are majority shareholders as the float did not sell as many shares as anticipated.

With the managerial nous shown by both previously, it wouldn't surprise me if they ended up hiring MORE staff and getting into more financial trouble! :ugh:

I think the reality of the 'merger' may be a cutting down of office staff, check in, ground handling etc but overall the 2 companies will still run separately. It's just too much a a cluster %$#@ to do anything else and well beyond the capabilities of those involved. Sir Dennis wanted a merger all those years ago and I remember the trouble he had back then.

[777tinpis]

I couldn't help but laugh when i read the POMSOX press release.
I would like to be optimistic about this "in-principle merger"...but like Ricky Bobby said it's just too much of a cluster #$%! to implement and that ranges from ground staff right through to upper management and that's at both companies.
But i'm afraid that flight crew from both companies better buy themselves a tub of Vaseline because conditions will deteriorate since this merger sees both sides of management unite which will take away the pilot's negotiation power. IF it goes ahead.

[Waghi Warrior]

My comments about APNG a bit rough ay, well they aren't in my view ! Look at ANG's safety record compared to APNG's dudes. No disrespect to any of the ex and current APNG pilots as they know what's wrong with the company, and I agree totally with them.

In all honesty I would even go to the extent to say that APNG's Dash 8 operation is ran reasonably well thanks to a lot of experience within the senior ranks, however the Twin Otter operation obviously has some major issues, you just have to consider the Kokoda and Kikori accidents, Frieda River incidents and the latest involving a extremely high time ex C@T Captain having a near death experience crossing the Kuta Ridge in bad weather, where the hell are the standards if incidents like this happen ? I'm not being rude or antagonistic APNG, I'm just outlining my concerns. I also hope that PX make the transition for the APNG pilots into their C@T system simplified and transparent.

Welcome aboard fellas as you will be most welcome, well at least by the PX pilots and more importantly in 215 ! However I see 215 could become somewhat crowded in the future if we don't get a new venue, aero club maybe ?

[fastfokker]

Don't mind the split personality above, us Captain's in PX have to deal with FO's of this calibre every day!

[geeup]

This will be very complicated!
Capts at APNG do tours and PX do not?
Salaries are also varied between both operations.
Where is the Falcon?

[NCD]

No matter who's (APNG or ANG) standard is accepted, it means a shed load of training to ensure the relevant SOP is worked to.

And that is just the Checkies!!!

[AQIS Boigu]

WW,

I would love to see PX operate Twotters whilst maintaining their safety record... barely half of all current PX pilots would have the skills and knowledge to do so anyway and everybody who has flown a one for APNG, MAF and so on knows that its operation and network is totally different to PX's... Sorry but I believe APNG's environment is more challenging that PX's; hence both companies' safety records are not comparable.

AB

[NCD]

AQIS B

Probably a good reason not to merge then.

I am sure that the Insurance Co's, IOSA, Codeshare arrangements, Contract holders, Financiers, Unions, etc, etc, will be cringing at the thought.

Tell 'em they dreamin.....

[AQIS Boigu]

NCD,

Correct... and where to start...???

Pilots on tours vs. pilots who can't get tours, staff travel, seniority, housing, salaries and the list goes on...

Mergers in the airline industry - no matter what size - are always a HUGE mess.

AB

[fastfokker]

..........Or maybe it'll end up like QF & JQ, they may leave the AOC's alone, and just use the excuse to get rid of a whole heap of dead wood from both sides.

[Mach E Avelli]

I don't believe that PX really wanted this 'merger' ; rather it is a political move and probably not a bad one at that. The Wilds are unlikely to be getting the return on their investment that they want, so would be reluctant to pump their own money into APNG, even though they still hold (I think) about 40% of the airline's stock. But something has to be done to save the superannuation and private investment in APNG - it can't be allowed to fail.
Fastfokker you have it in one. Two AOCs. APNG will most likely just operate the Otters - and more of them - on their existing AOC. That's where the real risk is, and if the rumour is true that the Government will justify their acquisition by opening up a lot of small disused airstrips that were once served by Talair, the risk will only get worse. They won't want to spoil PX's good record.
The Dash 8's will likely end up in PX colours and crewed to their SOP under the PX AOC. It does not make sense to duplicate effort in Check & Training, manuals, maintenance etc.
Jobs most at risk are probably where duplication can readily be cut out - commercial, HR, finance, QA, SMS, IT etc.
Finally, the previous analogy of Jetstar versus Qantas is not correct in relation to pilots, in my opinion (though see above in relation to APNG middle and senior management - they're GONE). There is already enough of a pilot shortage in PNG for pilots with even small balls to totally jack up against any attempt to worsen conditions. Pilots with bigger balls can probably leverage modest improvements, given that the Government's worst nightmare now will be to see aircraft parked for lack of crews.

[Waghi Warrior]

If there turns out to be a surplus of Dash8s whats to say that a few aren't farmed off to Skytrans before the deal goes through?

As far as competition goes Travel Air could be in the box seat if they ever get up and running.

NCD I totally agree with you about a load of training and checking to be done in relation to SOPs, even the fleet commonality could be a headache for PX with some of the APNG machines having non efis and Noahs Ark FMSs.

Boigu, re safety records not comparable they are because both companies operate in the same environment. I will even go further to suggest why don't we compare Hevilifts Twin Otter safety record to APNGs ! Completely the same style of operation there.

[gas-chamber]

Before anyone starts a p!ss!ng contest about safety, best to consider relative hours flown and the bigger picture.
Qantas reckons they are pretty hot because they never crashed a jet. Well they have crashed a jet, and it shouda been a write off but to preserve their reputation they rebuilt it so they could call the whole sad deal an incident. United Airlines crashed a few but based on hours or bums moved their safety record is near as good as the best.
What was the name of the company who's helo took out 10 in Indon a few months ago? Maybe the kid had another name but same Mom and Pop.

[Waghi Warrior]

Mach 12 I thought about that when I wrote my last and I didn't want to bring that up out of respect for the pilot concerned. Having said this he wasn't employed by Hevilift at the time of the incident.

[...still single]

WW,
APNG and Hevilifts Twotter operations are not the same at all.

Hevilift have self imposed length and gradient restrictions that preclude a lot of the strips that APNG take their Twotters to.

MAF and Southwest go to the most 'hardcore' strips, APNG are a little more conservative and most of the strips Hevilift visit could be used by a Chieftain.