Air Niugini’s PX100 cabin crew on the morning flight of Wednesday 17th July, acted swiftly to extinguish the smoke and fire from a damaged mobile phone battery belonging to a passenger and evacuated all 63 passengers.
The Board and Management of Air Niugini are very grateful that there were no injuries from this incident.
They commended the crew’s actions.
This shows the high standard of training and experience of our staff.
Air Niugini CEO Gary Seddon said, “our cabin crew are first and foremost safety professionals.”
“They are well trained to deal with situations such as a fire in the cabin.”
“I am very proud of the crew of PX100.”
“I am grateful that all passengers and crew are safe.”
“The aircraft was evacuated in less than 60 seconds.”
“The airport firefighting service came across the tarmac to attend to the situation.”
“Senior cabin crew acted fast and skillfully handled the situation and got everyone off the plane. They did a great job.”
Mr. Seddon also thanked the emergency services and members of the National Airport Corporation for their support.
Airlines have policies for the carriage of lithium-ion batteries on aircraft.
Air Niugini prohibits the carriage of lithium-ion batteries that are damaged.
If passengers are unsure, they should immediately seek guidance from an airline ground staff or cabin crew.