Locals want Air Travel route to Tari

By JEFFREY ELAPA
THERE are growing calls for the locally-owned Travel Air airline to operate in and out of Tari in Hela.
People from the province made the call after airfares for other operators climbed from around K600 to K1,004 for the Tari-Port Moresby run.
They said the region was home to the LNG project and other projects like gold and oil and the demand for seats was high.
They said an additional airline operating the route would create competition.
Spokesman Rex Tadabe said the people of Hela called on the management and owner Eremas Wartoto to consider the route as it served the three electorates of Komo-Margarima, Koroba-Lake Kopiago and Tari-Pori, where more than 300,000 people lived.
He said because of the resource boom in the area, airfares
had increased drastically.
He said the people there had no choice but to dig deeper into their
pockets.
He said not everyone was a landowner and that airfares had tripled over the past year after pre-construction work on the LNG project started.
Tadabe said it would be a blessing for the people of Hela if another airline could provide competition on the route.
He said no special fares were being offered by the only airline that operated the Tari-Port Moresby route.
He said many people risked their lives making the day-long journey to Mt Hagen and Mendi as flights in Tari were either too expensive for the average person or a fully booked.
“Travel Air was going to establish a route out of Mt Hagen then we, the people of Hela, are calling for Travel Air to do the same so that we have a choice of flying on affordable airfares,” Tadabe said.