Airlines PNG

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Airlines PNG traces its history back to Mawaneuna Plantation in Milne Bay Province during January 1987.

Founder and current Chairman, John Wild, had purchased the plantation as a business and weekend retreat. He needed to commute back and forth to the plantation, so he acquired an aircraft. The business name ÏMilne Bay AirÌ was registered and the aircraft went into service from the airstrip on the plantation.

In the years that followed, a number of growth opportunities presented themselves, including in 1989 the winning of a substantial long term contract with Chevron Niugini Ltd to provide aviation support to the Kutubu oilfield and the closure of Talair in 1993.

In 1997, the still fledgling airline successfully tendered to purchase two Dash 8 aircraft from the Ontario Provincial Government in Canada. This transaction, which required the support of Bombardier and the Canadian Export Development Corporation to finance, proved to be a most farsighted decision which took the airline into the high capacity passenger market and laid the ground work for the highly competitive and technically competent airline seen today.

The pursuit of technical excellence, a professional management team and a strategic focus on charter services to the mining and petroleum industries took the Company through the very difficult economic times encountered in Papua New Guinea during the late 1990Ìs and early part of this decade. During this time, Airlines PNG kept growing and making strategic advances in its business whilst its competitors gave up.

Since 2000, the business has grown solidly and significantly expanded in terms of capacity, passenger numbers and routes serviced. Prior to 2005, the airline operated only as a domestic RPT service and undertook domestic and international charters.

In 2005, Airlines PNG decided it was time to continue its growth. The Company commenced international RPT services to Cairns. In 2006 services to Brisbane using a leased Boeing 737 jet were launched.

Airlines PNG continues to be a family-run business with John Wild Senior as its Chairman and his son Simon D. Wild as CEO. As one of Papua New GuineaÌs major international and domestic airline carriers, Airlines PNG now services more than 120 aerodromes within Papua New Guinea and internationally to Australia. It now has more than 500 staff throughout Australia and PNG, a fleet of 18 aircraft and in excess of 225,000 passengers each year.