Airfare to increase

PASSENGERS travelling on Air Niugini will pay more for a ticket starting Monday, and indications are that other airlines and transport companies will up their fares as the new fuel prices granted to InterOil by the government hit home.
Trucking firm owners, who have threatened to pull their trucks off the road because of fuel price hike, will meet in Lae today to plot their next course of action.
Shipping businessman Peter Sharp said their charges would also go up, and he slammed the government for bowing to InterOil blackmail.
PMV owners were also considering an increase in PMV fares, and may demand this from the government.
Ordinary Papua New Guineans were being hit in the pocket as prices of goods go up, with the cost of the high fuel prices being passed on to them.
Air Niugini issued a statement yesterday saying the Board of Air Niugini has approved an increase of fuel surcharge for both domestic and international sectors.
The airline said it will be implementing a K35 increase in fuel surcharge on domestic sectors effective from Monday. On the international sectors, Air Niugini will increase surcharge by US$5 (about K16).
Meanwhile, InterOil denied claims it was broke. InterOil Chief operating officer Bill Jasper said the claims of the company falling into bankruptcy were not true and that “we are current on all our accounts”.
Mr Jasper also rejected suggestions that InterOil would use money made from the price increase granted by the government to finance its upstream activities (oil and gas explorations) in the country.
“The raising of the price has nothing to do with our upstream activities,” he said.
He said the pricing granted by the government “was a reflection of the world crude oil price”.