Madang top airpoort for on-time performance
If you’re flying out of Madang any time soon, you should be confident of your flight running on time. Air Niugini in Madang has taken the No. 1 spot for the airline’s on-time performance.
Port Moresby Chamber of Commerce president, David Conn, Air Niugini’s CEO, Simon Foo, Link PNG CEO, Daniel Wanma, and chief operating officer of CASA PNG, Tom Waqa, recently presented a shield to the Madang team.
Mr Foo commended Madang manager Wewe Pih and his staff for excellent teamwork that resulted in maintaining a high rate of on-time performance for the entire year, including several months at 100 per cent.
“It’s not easy to turn an aircraft within 30 minutes, ensuring details for all passenger, cargo, crew and aircraft are in place and departure is on schedule.”
Air Niugini’s 23 domestic ports are divided into four categories, A to D, according to the number of flights in a day. Madang, Lae, Rabaul and Mount Hagen are in category A with two to four flights a day. Port Moresby, being the biggest airport, is categorised separately and its competition is based on different shift times.
Wewak was top-performing port in category B, Tari in category C and Mendi in category D. Port Moresby’s “shift three” won in the capital, while Mendi took the CEO’s prestigious award for nil delays in 2014.
Mr Foo introduced the on-time performance initiative in 2013.
Prior to its implementation, Air Niugini’s overall average on-time departures were around 40 per cent, but are now averaging between 80 and 90 per cent. There have been days when Air Niugini’s combined on-time performance for domestic and international flights has reached 100 per cent.