Air Niugini launches excellence program
Air Niugini has officially launched a transformation program called ‘Higher Altitude’, which aims to take the airline from ‘good’ to ‘great’.
Air Niugini managing director, Alan Milne, says the program focuses on costs, revenue opportunities, staff, and customer and operational excellence.
He says one of the biggest decisions faced by the airline is the makeup of the fleet.
“We have delivery of four brand-new Boeing 737 Max aircraft to look forward to from 2020/2021, and we also have to make decisions on the eventual replacement of our Boeing 767, Fokker jets and Dash 8 turboprop aircraft. That’s a longterm planning process that is underway now,” he says.
Another important focus of the program is on airline employees, in particular developing the next generation of leaders and ensuring that all staff members are involved and engaged. “If our staff are engaged and we give them the right tools and resources to deliver their work, they will ensure reliable service standards, schedules and allround customer satisfaction.” Another area of focus is customer experience. “Without good, safe and compliant operations and customer proposition, we really don’t have an airline, hence it is very important for us to retain this and build on it further.
“We have to focus on customers like we have never had to before – the whole end-to-end customer proposition – that’s from making the booking on the website to the check-in experience, schedule, aircraft availability, the lounge experience, inflight entertainment, the food that we serve, and the service standards that Air Niugini is so well known for.
“We’ll be concentrating on these areas to ensure that we can deliver at a reasonable price and competitive way. We have also set up a new dedicated customer group within our organisation structure; they’ll be a central point of contact for all things concerning our customers.” ■
We have to focus on customers like never before.