Air Niugini would like to inform the travelling public that the runway lengths at Madang and Wewak airports are further shortened by the National Airports Corporation (NAC) to allow for runway maintenance and upgrading works at both airports.
As a result of the above, Air Niugini flights to and from Madang and Wewak are being operated by Dash-8 turboprop aircraft, operated by our subsidiary company Link PNG.
Due to the shortened length of both runways even these Dash-8 aircraft have restrictions on the number of passengers they can uplift.
Further, for the period between 23rd July and 13th August the useable runway at Madang will be too short for even limited Dash-8 operations, and Air Niugini flights to Madang during this period will be temporarily suspended.
The runway works at Madang and Wewak are in addition to the works at Nadzab airport, Lae, announced by the airline last week.
Air Niugini regrets the inconvenience to the travelling public, however safety of operations remains our primary concern.
We look forward to resuming our Fokker jet services to Madang and Wewak once the runway maintenance at both airports is completed.
This is presently forecast by NAC to be in October, weather permitting.