NAC boss wants international flights at PNG’s Nadzab Airport

By Andrew Curran.

The acting managing director and CEO of Papua New Guinea’s National Airports Corporation (NAC) says Lae’s Nadzab Tomodachi International Airport will become an international airport but adds that airlines will only fly there if they can fill their seats.

“Nadzab Tomodachi Airport will become an international airport,” Dominic Kaumu told the PNG Tourism Summit & Trade Exhibition, held in Port Moresby late last week. “I’m committed to making sure Nadzab becomes an international airport.”

Located in Morobe Province on the northern coast of Papua New Guinea’s main island, Nadzab Tomodachi Airport (LAE) is served by scheduled domestic flights operated by Air Niugini and PNG Air.

The NAC, which owns and operates the airport, does not publicly disclose passenger traffic figures. However, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), which was involved in the airport’s recent redevelopment, estimates that it handles between 300,000 and 350,000 passengers annually.

The airport was redeveloped earlier this decade and can now process international passengers. Its 2,439-metre asphalt runway can accommodate aircraft as large as the B777. However, no airline, including state-owned Air Niugini, has shown interest in operating international flights to or from the airport.

Kaumu said industry stakeholders needed to get involved to make international flights a reality. He also said passenger volumes needed to increase.

“Everyone wants international flights (at Nadzab Tomodachi),” he said. “But we don’t have the volume. We’ve got to build volumes because airlines cannot fly with empty seats.”

Papua New Guinea wants to build its visitor numbers

The Pacific Tourism Organisation says Papua New Guinea recorded 103,881 international visitor arrivals in 2025. All scheduled international airline services currently operate through Port Moresby (POM). Those visitors generated around PGK1 billion (USD220 million) for Papua New Guinea’s economy.

Aside from cruise ship day-trippers, few travellers to Papua New Guinea venture beyond the capital, which the Economist’s Global Liveability Index regularly ranks among the world’s least pleasant places to live in.

Despite this, the Papua New Guinea Government is keen to increase tourist numbers across the country, including to places beyond Port Moresby.

As part of that push, it has invested heavily in upgrading regional airports such as Nadzab Tomodachi and has begun overhauling Port Moresby’s less-than-stellar domestic terminal.

The redevelopment of Nadzab Tomodachi Airport cost around PGK692 million (USD155 million), with more than 80% of the funding provided by JICA through a concessional official development assistance loan. The government contributed the remainder and renamed the airport, in a gesture of thanks to Japan.

Similar projects are under way or have been completed elsewhere in Papua New Guinea. Most are not on the scale of the Lae airport redevelopment, but some, such as the recent USD17.3 million upgrade of Alotau/Gurney Airport (GUR) in Milne Bay Province, have prompted the government to muse about the prospect of short-haul international flights from that province to destinations such as Brisbane (BNE).

National Airports Corporation eyes night time operations across PNG's airports

Helping advance that goal, Kaumu said the NAC was working to ensure that most of its airports could soon regularly accommodate night flights.

“Most of the flights today are daytime flights,” he said. “The NAC are doing all of the things to cater for night flights.” However, he did not specify what measures the corporation was taking.

Nadzab Tomodachi Airport does not have regular night-flight capability, but it can accommodate night flights on a temporary or pre-arranged basis, subject to NAC approval. A similar situation applies at most airports around Papua New Guinea, with Port Moresby being the exception.

Although the redevelopment of Nadzab Tomodachi included night-time airfield and runway lighting, the airport does not have round-the-clock air traffic control tower staffing or overnight operational personnel in place. However, Kaumu suggested this would change, saying that 24-hour operations would help attract international airlines to the airport.

Aero South Pacific has contacted National Airports Corporation for comment.

Photo: AI-Generated.
Contact the writer: andrew@aerosouthpacific.com