AIR Niugini’s improved financial performance that led to the introduction of a second Boeing aircraft and a better pay deal for its national pilots is no accident, State Enterprises Minister Arthur Somare said yesterday.He said that when the Somare Government took office in 2002, the net asset value of the State-owned enterprises, including Air Niugini, was “appalling”.
“But we decided against the wholesale privatisation of these enterprises. We decided to put them through a deliberate process of recovery and revitalisation,” he said.
Mr Somare, whose ministerial portfolio also covers Air Niugini, said he was pleased with the airline’s announcement that it had come out of the financial difficulties.
“This Government had to work extremely hard and our efforts obviously are paying off,” he said.
Mr Somare also commended Air Niugini for the signing of an agreement to improve the remuneration packages of national pilots.
“Our nationally-trained pilots are highly-skilled professionals and equally competitive as their expatriate counterparts but have not been adequately remunerated.
“It has been a concern in recent years when most of our qualified nationals have been moving overseas to fly with airlines like Qatar airlines, United Emirates Airlines in the Middle East and Dragon Air in China,” he said.
He said Air Niugini’s announcement of more aircraft soon was consistent with the Government and Independent Public Business Corporation’s overall plans for the airline and the other state-owned enterprises.
Air Niugini recently put into operation a B757, leased from a foreign airline, to service international routes.
It is also temporarily operating a B767 leased from Viva Macau pending the delivery of another B767 from Brunei.