Air Niugini has assured Cairns business people that it will continue to cater to the business and tourism community, after Qantas confirmed that it will no longer fly the Cairns-Port Moresby route, according to Cairns business leader, Kevin Byrne.

The announcement comes as Qantas announced it had posted a statutory profit after tax of A$1.03 billion (K2.45 billion) compared to A$557 million (K1.32 billion) a year ago.

‘We’ve shifted our Port Moresby flights from Cairns to Brisbane, as the Cairns route was underperforming and we know a lot of our customers do travel to Port Moresby from Brisbane,’ a Qantas spokesman told Business Advantage PNG.

‘Qantas will continue to operate its daily return Port Moresby to Brisbane route.’

Air Niugini will now be the only operator maintaining direct flights between Cairns and PNG, from October 30.

Air Niugini currently operates a 100-seat Fokker F100 jet aircraft between Cairns and Port Moresby. In the future, it will operate at least two flights a day in each direction, with larger aircraft on some departures.

Services

Advance Cairns’ Kevin Byrne

‘Our customers in Cairns will still be able to travel direct to Port Moresby with our codeshare partner Air Niugini and earn Qantas Points,’ the Qantas spokesman said.

Qantas will continue to operate its daily return Port Moresby to Brisbane route, but will use the higher capacity 174-seat B737 rather than the 74-seat Bombardier.

‘Byrne said the increased capacity by Air Niugini could mean up to eight extra flights per week.’

The Chief Executive of Advance Cairns, Kevin Byrne, describes the Qantas decision as ‘most unfortunate’.

However, he has subsequently met with Air Niugini’s General Manager, Simon Foo, who advised that Air Niugini ‘would increase capacity by 55 per cent in all jet services between Cairns and PNG’.

Olive branch

Byrne said the increased capacity by Air Niugini could mean up to eight extra flights per week.

‘They’ve thrown an olive branch out to the Cairns community and we’re very appreciative of that,’ he told the Cairns Post.

‘They will look to provide an all-jet service with three extra linkages to other parts of PNG.’

‘The Independent Consumer Competition Commission has approved a code-sharing arrangement between Qantas and Air Niugini.’

‘Simon was previous PX Cairns (Air Niugini) Port Manager and had a good understanding of our community,’ Byrne commented in a newsletter to members.

Code sharing

The Independent Consumer Competition Commission has approved a code-sharing arrangement between Qantas and Air Niugini.

ICCC CEO, Paulus Ain, said had considered that it was in the best interest of consumers that the code sharing agreement be maintained between both airlines for the routes between PNG and Australia.

‘With this change, Air Niugini will continue to offer a double-daily service to Brisbane, one of which will be operated by the airline’s wide-body Boeing 767 aircraft,’ said Air Niugini CEO Simon Foo. ‘The second service will be operated by a Qantas Boeing 737 aircraft. There will be two flights per day in each direction. Air Niugini also plans to increase its direct services to Sydney from two to three flights per week.’

‘Under the revised codeshare arrangements, Air Niugini will be able to place its ‘PX’ code on Qantas-operated flights from Brisbane and Sydney to Melbourne and Perth, allowing its passengers to make seamless connections to these cities and to have access to a wider choice of through fares and tickets than is currently available.’

Qantas also announced a share buyback of up to A$366 million (K872 million) and its first dividend payment since 2009, with a payment of 7c per share for the current year to be paid in October.