The ongoing restructure of Airlines PNG Ltd has provided the company with an opportunity to refresh its brand, starting significantly with a change of its name to PNG Air. Chairman Murray Woo tells Business Advantage PNG more about the rebranding.

A rebranded PNG Air aircraft.

Launched in Port Moresby yesterday, the rebranded entity was announced as the company also unveiled its first ATR 72-600 aircraft, which it expects to form the basis of PNG Air’s fleet by 2020, replacing the older de Havilland Canada DHC-8-100 Dash 8 planes.

Chairman Murray Woo told Business Advantage PNG the arrival of the first aircraft provided a platform for the Airlines PNG Ltd to revitalise its image, leading to the name change.

PNG Air Chairman Murray Woo

‘We also plan to make substantial changes at all levels of the company,’ Woo said. ‘It will make an impact right through the company, from the change of name to our staff culture, to highlight the airline’s development,’ Woo said.

‘It will invigorate our staff, improve our safety and customer service, and set a new foundation for the company.’

Muralee Silva, Chief Executive Officer of PNG Air, said the company had looked closely at what it was doing now and what it needed to do in the future when preparing the for the arrival of the new aircraft.

‘Once we commit to that sort of change, it made sense for us to also introduce a new brand. A new brand provides a fresh beginning for a company undergoing significant change,’ Silva said in a statement. ‘For us, it represents the company’s bold plan for the future of regional aviation in PNG—to be the first choice regional airline for the people of PNG.’

New direction

The latest developments continue an extensive restructure of the company. Its ownership has also been restructured so that the company is ‘now unambiguously PNG-owned and a permanent part of the country’s infrastructure and economy’, Woo continued. The company’s main shareholders are Mineral Resources Development Company (41%) and superannuation fund, Nasfund (40%).

He said the arrival of the new aircraft was now set to deliver substantial improvements to the efficiency of PNG Air’s operations.

It will invigorate our staff, improve our safety and customer service, and set a new foundation for the company.

‘They are all brand new aircraft,’ Woo said. ‘That will be a boon for us in terms of engineering and maintenance because those factors will be reduced because they are all new aircraft. While it is a substantial investment, in the long term it should work out very good for us.’

PNG Air is awaiting the arrival of seven ATR 72-600 aircraft, which is built by French-Italian manufacturer ATR, and has another 14 on order. The company expects to have three ATRs operating by February 2016 and seven by December 2017. It intends to replace all of the Dash 8 aircraft and become a 100% ATR operator by 2020.

PNG ready

PNG Air’s first ATR 72-600 aircraft has arrived. Credit: PNG Air.

Woo said the ATR 72-600, the only aircraft capable of flying to each of PNG’s major ports, had become by far the most widely chosen regional turboprop aircraft in the world.

After extensive research into several aircraft Woo said the company identified a number of benefits the ATR 72-600 would provide over its counterparts to improve the efficiency and safety of its operations.

‘This particular plane is ideally suited to our terrain here in PNG and will be able to operate at the majority of the airstrips we currently serve,’ Woo said.

‘The low operating cost of the planes is also quite significant for us. The operating cost of this particular aircraft is about 10% more than the 36 seater Dash 8 that we have but obviously offers more seats so works out to be far cheaper to fly.’

Domestic demand

Woo said PNG Air would remain focused on strengthening and expanding its services in the domestic market in PNG following the rebranding, and as it rolls out the new aircraft.

‘PNG will be relying on air services for a long time yet because I can’t see any substantial investment that will link any of the major ports by road,’ he explained.

This particular plane is ideally suited to our terrain here in PNG and will be able to operate at the majority of the airstrips we currently serve.

‘More people are flying and they are finding it more affordable to fly around the country. We have been preparing ourselves and putting the company in a position to make the most of that.’