NiuSky Pacific Limited (NSPL) has confirmed that a major internal power outage was the cause of the Air Traffic Control radar and tracking systems being temporarily down on Monday afternoon, disrupting a lot of flights in the process. After conducting its own initial investigation, it was concluded that the disruption was triggered by a failure in the Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS), leading to the complete loss of the following systems.

• Air Traffic Management System (ATMS)
• All radio communications (VHF/HF)
• Surveillance systems (Radar and ADS-B)
• Telephone and intercom lines
• Computer Aided Aeronautical Data and Alerting System (CADAS)
• Automated Weather Observing System (AWOS)

As a direct result, Air Traffic Control (ATC) and Flight Information Services (FIS) were temporarily unavailable. Upon identification of the outage, all ATS Units across the country, including Jacksons, Nadzab, Mount Hagen, Tokua, Goroka, and Madang, were immediately notified to halt all departures. Despite the outage, three arriving domestic flights were safely managed using manual fallback procedures and backup radio systems, with all aircraft safely separated and guided to landing. For international overflying traffic, ATC separation was maintained based on the last communicated positions. Adjacent Flight Information Region (FIR) centres in Brisbane and Oakland were promptly notified, and TIBA (Traffic Information Broadcast by Aircraft) procedures were activated to ensure continued safety in affected airspace. "The NSPL Executive Management coordinated the response and informed the Civil Aviation Safety Authority of PNG (CASAPNG), National Airports Corporation (NAC), and relevant airline operators of the situation," said NiuSky Pacific. "By 1500hrs, all affected systems were restored and ATS services resumed normal operations. TIBA procedures were cancelled accordingly. However, issuance of NOTAMs (Notices to Airmen) was not possible during the outage due to the unavailability of CADAS." NSPL deeply regrets the inconvenience caused and commends its operational teams for their swift and safe management of the situation under contingency procedures. An internal investigation into the root cause of the UPS failure is currently underway, and steps are being taken to ensure system resilience and prevent recurrence.