Air Niugini firms up Tokyo flights, delays Auckland

By Andrew Curran.

Air Niugini has delayed the start of its Auckland flights until at least September but is sticking with its previous plan to launch Tokyo flights in July. 

While not yet promoted by the airline, Air Niugini has opened bookings for its Port Moresby (POM) – Tokyo Narita (NRT) round-trips.

The twice weekly flights will start on July 18, 2026, departing Port Moresby mid afternoon on Saturdays and Wednesdays, and leaving Tokyo mid-evening for an early morning arrival back in Port Moresby the following day.

Initially at least, a B737-800 will operate the Wednesday service and a B767-300ER will work the Saturday service.

Aero South Pacific flagged the start of the Tokyo flights in March, noting comments made by Japan’s Ambassador to Papua New Guinea, Hisanobu Mochizuki, about the prospective flights.

Air Niugini hasn’t operated scheduled flights to Tokyo since 2020.

Auckland flights pushed back until at least September

Meanwhile, plans to start flying between Port Moresby and Auckland (AKL) in mid-June appear to be delayed until early September.

Current filings show that Air Niugini has adjusted the start date to September 1, 2026. The thrice weekly flights, operated by a B737-800, are timetabled to run on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. At the time of publication, these flights are yet to go on sale.

In March, Air Niugini briefly put up a notice on its Facebook page touting the start of the Auckland flights but pulled it down soon after. The post followed reports by AeroRoutes and Aero South Pacific on the plans.

No airline currently flies between Port Moresby and Tokyo and Port Moresby and Auckland.

However, like Tokyo, Air Niugini has previously flown to Auckland, albeit not since 1998. But both routes performed poorly for the airline, and it relied heavily on cargo to sustain the services.

But the markets have since evolved and there is the opportunity to feed passenger traffic through Port Moresby. It helps that Air Niugini is upgrading its fleet and now operating A220-300s on its Cairns (CNS) and Sydney (SYD) services.

The airline already promotes flights from Australia to its Asian destinations, flying via Port Moresby.

For Papua New Guineans, Tokyo is a handy transit port for services through to Europe and North America, while Auckland is well positioned for flights through to the Pacific Islands and South America.

Photo: AI-Generated.

Contact the writer: andrew@aerosouthpacific.com