Papua New Guinea fleet renewal programmes pick up pace
By Andrew Curran.
Fleet renewal programmes are well underway at Papua New Guinea’s two scheduled passenger airlines. Air Niugini has just received its second A220-300 while competitor PNG Air has recently ferried in three ATRs.
Having taken delivery of its first A220 in September, Air Niugini flew in its second, an A220-300 registered as P2-PGB (msn 55406), on December 12, 2025.
“This new A220 helps reshape the future of aviation in our country,” said Minister for State-Owned Enterprises William Duma on the day.
A third A220-300, P2-PGC (msn 55410), will arrive in Port Moresby before the end of the month. The aircraft has left the Canadian production facility and, at the time of publication, is in Fiji enroute to Port Moresby. Next year, deliveries of the first of eight A220-100s will start.
The Airbus jets will replace Air Niugini’s ageing Fokker jets. Alongside two B787-8s due to arrive in 2027, Duma said the fleet refresh will end Air Niugini’s many years of “just getting by.”
On-going reliability issues have undercut Air Niugini’s reputation in its home market. As recently as last week there was a spate of flight cancellations that made local headlines.
Duma said this was partly because of ageing aircraft and their association maintenance issues and poor airport infrastructure. Some smaller airports cannot handle the A220s, despite being warned years ago about required infrastructure work such as runway strengthening.
In response, many regional airports are now receiving runway and terminal upgrades via the government’s Civil Aviation Development Project. Papua New Guinea’s gateway airport, Jacksons International (POM) at Port Moresby is also in line for an upgrade over the new few years.
“This is not a quick-fix,” said Duma. “But on-time departures and arrivals departures are improving with this growing fleet.”
Ten mid-life ATRs for PNG Air
Meanwhile, an equally import fleet renewal programme is well underway at PNG Air. The domestic airline is retiring its DHC-8-100 fleet for much the same reason that Air Niugini is jettisoning its Fokkers – they are old, tired, expensive to maintain, and increasingly unreliable.
Replacing the PNG Air -100s are mid-life ATRs. The airline is introducing ten new ATRs over a 12-month period. Since October, three have ferried in.
Most recently, an ATR72-600 registered as P2-ATV (msn 1152) arrived in Port Moresby on November 25 and another, P2-ATW (msn 1460), ferried in on December 8.
Another seven ATRs are due, including one by the end of the year, and the remaining six by the end of October 2026. Not all are ATR72-600s. Aero South Pacific has identified at least one ATR42-500, M-BCOL (msn 1047), that PNG Air is taking up.
Aero South Pacific has tracked the delivery of these aircraft and other aircraft in its Aircraft Briefs page, which you can view here. The page is updated regularly.
PNG Air say their new ATRs will provide a more reliable, resilient, and comfortable service for Papua New Guinea.
“A modern efficient fleet means fewer disruptions, more seats available when people need them, and better on-time performance across our network,” said PNG Air CEO Brian Fraser.
Out-sized role for airlines in Papua New Guinea
Aviation plays an important role in connecting Papua New Guinea - more so than in many countries. The main island, New Guinea, is dominated by an east-west mountain range rising to over 4,000 metres. On either side are northern and southern lowlands and the major cities, but no road connects them. There are also no railways in Papua New Guinea.
Meanwhile, there are around 600 islands offshore from New Guinea. No-one has a precise handle on how many are inhabited, but the number runs into the hundreds. Many of Air Niugini’s and PNG Air’s scheduled flights service some of these islands. Both airlines say their new aircraft will improve reliability and connections to the country's remoter and hard to access areas.
Photos: Air Niugini/PNG Air.
Contact the writer: andrew@aerosouthpacific.com