Fog stops flight from landing in POM

Business

AN AIR Niugini flight from Singapore to Port Moresby was diverted to Darwin in Australia last week because of poor weather conditions.
Air Niugini general manager commercial Dominic Kaumu told The National that alternate airports in Lae and Cairns were not able to take flights.
“The postponed flight from Singapore on Friday could not come direct to Port Moresby as there was heavy fog from the rainy weather last week,” he said.
“This has happened before and it makes it difficult to land.
“The alternate airport when this happens is Nadzab in Lae or Cairns, but those airports were not able to then, so we had to come into Darwin.
“The National Weather Service were on strike as well and that did not help, as they are important in providing information for flights.
“We had to decide on the safety of our passengers which is of the highest importance to Air Niugini.”
Kaumu said the past weeks were challenging for the airline as it had been operating without both its Boeing 767 aircraft.
“There were also passengers offloaded in Singapore for last week’s flights due to issues of maximising loads with fuel and cargoes,” he said.
“It is regrettable but it was the best option to take.
“Our B767 that was grounded in Singapore for technical reasons should be able to begin flights by (today).
“We expect normalcy to come back with the aircraft back to operate routes.
“We are making decisions on flights to ensure that safety is always maintained while also doing the best in terms of service with the options available to us.”