Air Niugini News
Retired Tiger pilot
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Future Assured
K70m Xmas gift for national carrier
NATIONAL flag carrier Air Niugini has received a K70 million Christmas present from the National Government.
Treasurer and Finance Minister Patrick Pruaitch yesterday presented a cheque worth K70 million to assist Air Niugini to cover the initial deposit on a new aircraft.
Mr Pruaitch, in presenting the funds to Air Niugini board chairman Sir James Tjoeng and chief executive officer Wasantha Kumarasiri, said the K70 million was from the Government’s 2008 supplementary budget.
He said a further K30 million had been allocated to Air Niugini as part of next year’s national budget.
Mr Pruaitch said most of the K70 million would go towards covering the initial deposit for purchasing a Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
Air Niugini, as a State-owned entity, is allocated funds from the National Government annually to ensure it refleets its aircraft fleet.
The airline has, in the last two years, introduced six Fokker 100 aircraft and six Dash 8 to improve its domestic services.
Sir James and Mr Kumarasiri, in receiving the cheque, thanked the Government for its contribution to the airline.
Sir James said the new aircraft was timely as it would coincide with the development of the multi-billion-kina PNG liquefied natural gas (LNG) project.
Mr Kumarasiri said while most of the monies would go towards covering the airline’s future aircraft requirement, international travellers to and from PNG would have the privilege of experiencing the technologically-advanced and improved comfort of a Boeing 787 aircraft in the near future - subject to Boeing’s
delivery schedule.
In October this year, Air Niugini was on the verge of suspending its services to Japan due to non-profitability and lack of external support.
However, the Government stepped in and assured to assist with a K12 million subsidy.
This is expected to come out in the future budget.
Air Niugini currently has 18 aircraft and operates to 10 international and 18 domestic destinations.
Nation Stories
NATIONAL flag carrier Air Niugini has received a K70 million Christmas present from the National Government.
Treasurer and Finance Minister Patrick Pruaitch yesterday presented a cheque worth K70 million to assist Air Niugini to cover the initial deposit on a new aircraft.
Mr Pruaitch, in presenting the funds to Air Niugini board chairman Sir James Tjoeng and chief executive officer Wasantha Kumarasiri, said the K70 million was from the Government’s 2008 supplementary budget.
He said a further K30 million had been allocated to Air Niugini as part of next year’s national budget.
Mr Pruaitch said most of the K70 million would go towards covering the initial deposit for purchasing a Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
Air Niugini, as a State-owned entity, is allocated funds from the National Government annually to ensure it refleets its aircraft fleet.
The airline has, in the last two years, introduced six Fokker 100 aircraft and six Dash 8 to improve its domestic services.
Sir James and Mr Kumarasiri, in receiving the cheque, thanked the Government for its contribution to the airline.
Sir James said the new aircraft was timely as it would coincide with the development of the multi-billion-kina PNG liquefied natural gas (LNG) project.
Mr Kumarasiri said while most of the monies would go towards covering the airline’s future aircraft requirement, international travellers to and from PNG would have the privilege of experiencing the technologically-advanced and improved comfort of a Boeing 787 aircraft in the near future - subject to Boeing’s
delivery schedule.
In October this year, Air Niugini was on the verge of suspending its services to Japan due to non-profitability and lack of external support.
However, the Government stepped in and assured to assist with a K12 million subsidy.
This is expected to come out in the future budget.
Air Niugini currently has 18 aircraft and operates to 10 international and 18 domestic destinations.
Nation Stories
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Mach .85
Please do your homework before your next post 
-FII is of course approved by PNG DCA for all PX operation, including ETOPS and POM-KUL is NOT too far for B-757.
-FII is of course approved by PNG DCA for all PX operation, including ETOPS and POM-KUL is NOT too far for B-757.
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IOSA is no joke
The IOSA audit is certainly not a rubber stamp it that’s what “tick the Box” means.
At the end of this year dozens of airlines will lose their IATA member ship for failing to qualify. I think they will consider it a pass or fail due to the down side on noncompliance.
The audits are carried out by internationally recognized independent consultants and prove conformance with a relatively rigid standard. (Certainly a far better audit than anything performed by PNG CAA in the recent past)
PX has also laid in many additional QA staff recently under the current CEO and the culture of ignoring audit findings immediately after the audit is completed has started to diminish. Much of this is due to the IOSA requirements so overall it is a process that is bringing change to an industry that could use some standardization on policy and procedures.
At the end of this year dozens of airlines will lose their IATA member ship for failing to qualify. I think they will consider it a pass or fail due to the down side on noncompliance.
The audits are carried out by internationally recognized independent consultants and prove conformance with a relatively rigid standard. (Certainly a far better audit than anything performed by PNG CAA in the recent past)
PX has also laid in many additional QA staff recently under the current CEO and the culture of ignoring audit findings immediately after the audit is completed has started to diminish. Much of this is due to the IOSA requirements so overall it is a process that is bringing change to an industry that could use some standardization on policy and procedures.
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LVDT
Agree IOSA is no joke.
May I ask a few questions please?
1) have any mock IOSA Audits previously been undertaken and if so, when?
2) If so, how many such IOSA audits have been undertaken and during what period have they been undertaken?
3) Who was/were the CEO(s) during this period?
4) Who was responsible for ignoring previous audit findings?
5) where does the buck stop?
DM
May I ask a few questions please?
1) have any mock IOSA Audits previously been undertaken and if so, when?
2) If so, how many such IOSA audits have been undertaken and during what period have they been undertaken?
3) Who was/were the CEO(s) during this period?
4) Who was responsible for ignoring previous audit findings?
5) where does the buck stop?
DM
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letter to the editor (The National)
PX CEO should be sacked
THE Government must admit that Air Niugini is a failed business venture.
To give the airline another K70 million on top of K12 million is a slap in the face of domestic travellers who are still trying to recover from the increase in domestic fares.
Why should taxpayers’ money be used to prop up this airline time and again?
As a layman, I fail to understand this type of assistance.
The Government should either sell Air Niugini or sack the chief executive officer and appoint a new board and managers.
They are only good at raising airfares and making feeble excuses.
Airlines PNG should be given the rights to cover similar routes as Air Niugini so we, the travelling public, can at least have the freedom to select which airline to use.
I commend Airlines PNG for making an effort to reduce the burden on Papua New Guineans.
Your recent deals are hard to beat.
M Dokup
Mt Hagen
-----------------------------------------------------------
I simply laugh at these letters. Yea...coz sacking the entire management team will solve everything. NOT!
Maybe he can tell the government where to find the replacements before
he instructs them to fire everyone.
I'm glad he recognises he is a layman and for that reason does not understand.
NZ2.
THE Government must admit that Air Niugini is a failed business venture.
To give the airline another K70 million on top of K12 million is a slap in the face of domestic travellers who are still trying to recover from the increase in domestic fares.
Why should taxpayers’ money be used to prop up this airline time and again?
As a layman, I fail to understand this type of assistance.
The Government should either sell Air Niugini or sack the chief executive officer and appoint a new board and managers.
They are only good at raising airfares and making feeble excuses.
Airlines PNG should be given the rights to cover similar routes as Air Niugini so we, the travelling public, can at least have the freedom to select which airline to use.
I commend Airlines PNG for making an effort to reduce the burden on Papua New Guineans.
Your recent deals are hard to beat.
M Dokup
Mt Hagen
-----------------------------------------------------------
I simply laugh at these letters. Yea...coz sacking the entire management team will solve everything. NOT!
Maybe he can tell the government where to find the replacements before
he instructs them to fire everyone.
I'm glad he recognises he is a layman and for that reason does not understand.
NZ2.
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The fact that APNG can continue to be profitable when faced with an unfairly govt. propped up airline brings up many questions on just how well Pixie is run. Maybe they should have a look at how APNG does bussiness, with no protected, subsitised routes with government hands out every time that they stuff up, and yes they produce a good profit not loss.
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Dingo
1) have any mock IOSA Audits previously been undertaken and if so, when?
Mock IOSA audits were conducted at PX, one full and some partials.
2) If so, how many such IOSA audits have been undertaken and during what period have they been undertaken?
The full audit was very early and I believe was used as a guide for IOSA rewrites in all manuals. Secondly were the work shops this was a big effort involving every department with perhaps 6 consultants. Then the IOSA audit followed by more workshops to address findings. The end result was a serious change in procedures with the addition of a number of new policies standard to the IATA model.
3) Who was/were the CEO(s) during this period?
CEO was W. Kumarasiri during the exercise, not sure if he initiated the IOSA initiative however.
4) Who was responsible for ignoring previous audit findings?
Previous audit malpractice was I think a culture throughout the company, accountability was simply not enforced. The result was that findings were addressed in writting but never implemented the root causes were not addressed and audit findings tended to be repetative over the years. All the people who tried to reverse this were unsuccessful.
5) where does the buck stop?
Good question.
I think the IOSA audit finally woke up enough people to the possibility of IATA dropping PX from the club that a serious culture change was initiated. I wonder if this will last certainly hope so.
Mock IOSA audits were conducted at PX, one full and some partials.
2) If so, how many such IOSA audits have been undertaken and during what period have they been undertaken?
The full audit was very early and I believe was used as a guide for IOSA rewrites in all manuals. Secondly were the work shops this was a big effort involving every department with perhaps 6 consultants. Then the IOSA audit followed by more workshops to address findings. The end result was a serious change in procedures with the addition of a number of new policies standard to the IATA model.
3) Who was/were the CEO(s) during this period?
CEO was W. Kumarasiri during the exercise, not sure if he initiated the IOSA initiative however.
4) Who was responsible for ignoring previous audit findings?
Previous audit malpractice was I think a culture throughout the company, accountability was simply not enforced. The result was that findings were addressed in writting but never implemented the root causes were not addressed and audit findings tended to be repetative over the years. All the people who tried to reverse this were unsuccessful.
5) where does the buck stop?
Good question.
I think the IOSA audit finally woke up enough people to the possibility of IATA dropping PX from the club that a serious culture change was initiated. I wonder if this will last certainly hope so.
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LVDT, you give an IOSA Audit more credibility than it deserves in this instance.
PX underwent the Audit in October 2007 and then had 12 months to return the ISARP's.
The airline's biggest challenge has been its (in)ability to adequately address the findings of the PNG CAA Audits of May and August 2008. I understand the term "dysfunctional" was used by the Lead Auditor to describe the airline in his summary of those findings.
I am also hearing noises currently suggesting some changes are afoot although the proposed alternative to the incumbent is not seen as an appropriate person. Perhaps another 'dummy spit' will see the airline get its way again.
PX underwent the Audit in October 2007 and then had 12 months to return the ISARP's.
The airline's biggest challenge has been its (in)ability to adequately address the findings of the PNG CAA Audits of May and August 2008. I understand the term "dysfunctional" was used by the Lead Auditor to describe the airline in his summary of those findings.
I am also hearing noises currently suggesting some changes are afoot although the proposed alternative to the incumbent is not seen as an appropriate person. Perhaps another 'dummy spit' will see the airline get its way again.
