PM: Half of PX for sale

 By GYNNIE KERO

THE government well sell its 50% stake in Air Niugini to the private sector to raise K500 million for two more Boeing 787 Dreamliners, Prime Minister Peter O’Neill said.

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is a long-range, mid-size wide-body, twin-engine jet airliner developed by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. 

Seating 210 to 330 passengers, it costs about US$100 (K260.58 million) million each.

Last year, Air Niugini chief executive Simon Foo announced the company would take delivery of these aircraft in 2017 and 2018.

O’Neill said the government was reforming all state-owned enterprises (SOE) starting with the national flag carrier due to the demand for its services.

He said:  “Our government is now trying to reform many state-owned enterprises and will go into the public-private partnership arrangements where we (government) plan to place state enterprises on stock market. 

“First is Air Niugini, why? Because we are trying to buy two Dreamliners (Boeing 767) that the Air Niugini board has already put deposit on.

“The number of travellers on Air Niugini increased to two million last year, for a country of seven million people, that is a significant number, so we need to invest in Air Niugini to handle that capacity.

O’Neill stressed that the government needs to make it (Air Niugini) bigger and better. 

He said the government has no money to buy those two Dreamliners, which would cost K500 million.

O’Neill said: “To raise that money, we have to go to stock market to raise it from the private sector and mums and dads, who are interested to invest in the national airline.

“The success of BSP shows the appetite private sectors have in SOEs.

“We (government) are also looking at other 2-3 state enterprises — Telikom and PNG Power — we will slowly introduce them to the private sector.

“We want to be transparent and fair; it’s not going to be any sweet heart deal.”