Finally, Air Niugini has officially signed a firm order for the purchase of six A220 series 100 jets. The order was announced at a special event in in the capital by Gary Seddon, Acting Chief Executive Air Niugini and Anand Stanley, President of Airbus Asia-Pacific. In addition to this, the airline will lease a further two A220-100s and three larger A220-300s from third party lessors, for a total fleet of eleven aircraft. The eleven new A220 jets will replace Air Niugini’s existing fleet of Fokker 100/70s and Boeing 737s on domestic, regional and international routes from next year onwards. Seddon stated that this is a milestone in the history of the national airline as the A220 brings with it the latest technology, fuel efficiency, and the most comfortable passenger cabin in its class, and will transform the way the nation flies. “The A220s will primarily service our domestic routes, but also have the flexibility to operate new regional international routes of up to 7 hours duration, which will support the growth of trade and tourism for Papua New Guinea”. Christian Scherer, Airbus Chief Commercial Officer and Head of International, said “The efficiency and range capability of the A220 make it the perfect solution for Air Niugini’s network as it charts a new trajectory. We thank Air Niugini for its confidence in Airbus and are committed to offering our full support to the airline as it transitions to its new fleet.” As at the end of September, Airbus has received over 800 orders from around 30 customers for the A220, of which more than 280 have been delivered. The A220 is already in successful service with 17 airlines worldwide.