Air Niugini deploys A220-300 onto international routes

By Andrew Curran.

Air Niugini has started flying its A220-300s outside Papua New Guinea. The airline deployed the aircraft onto the Port Moresby (POM) – Cairns (CNS) route last week and the Port Moresby – Sydney (SYD) city-pair earlier this week.

Since Air Niugini’s first A220-300 arrived in September 2025, the airline has exclusively used the type across its domestic network, primarily on routes between Port Moresby and Lae (LAE), Kavieng (KVG), Manus (MAS), Gurney (GUR), and Rabaul (RAB).

But on March 27, the A220 took over from the B737-800s and Fokker jets flying between Port Moresby and Cairns. Typically, Air Niugini operates nine weekly round-trips on the city-pair.

Air Niugini CEO Alan Milne said that Cairns was a natural choice for the aircraft’s first international service given the strong historical, economic and tourism links between Papua New Guinea and Far North Queensland.

“Cairns has always been an important gateway for Papua New Guinea, supporting strong business, tourism and family connections between our two regions,” he said. “Launching the A220-300’s first international flight on this route highlights the importance of the PNG – Australia travel corridor and our commitment to strengthening that connectivity.”

Air Niugini is the only airline providing scheduled passenger flights on the Port Moresby – Cairns city pair. The airline also becomes the first foreign carrier to schedule the A220 type on an Australian route. Australian carrier Qantas already operates the type on some services between Brisbane (BNE) and Wellington (WLG).

Air Niugini starts flying the A220 to Sydney

Two days later, on March 29, Air Niugini also began operating the A220-300 on its Port Moresby – Sydney services and simultaneously increased its twice weekly round-trips to Sydney to thrice-weekly round-trips.

The A220 will not immediately take over all of Air Niugini’s Port Moresby – Sydney flights. Rather, it will “progressively replace” B737-800s currently operating on the route.

“Sydney is a key destination within our international network,” said Milne. “By increasing our services and introducing the A220-300 on this route, we are enhancing accessibility and creating more opportunities for travel, trade and economic engagement between our two countries.”

The upgrade to Air Niugini’s Sydney flights coincides with Qantas resuming three times per week B737-800 flights between Sydney and Port Moresby. Qantas has unsuccessfully tried to make this route work before. However, this time around, the airline says the increased business traffic between the two cities should now make the route viable.

Both airlines also compete on the Brisbane – Port Moresby city-pair.

Air Niugini says Honiara (HIR) will be the next international destination that its A220-300s will fly to. However, the airline is yet to publicise a date for this or update schedule filings to reflect an aircraft change.

Photo: Air Niugini.

Contact the writer: andrew@aerosouthpacific.com