PNG has potential to become airline hub, PM says

PRIME Minister James Marape says PNG can be the hub of airline traffic in the region.
It is starting to see a great amount of air traffic from Asia and that is why Air Niugini wants to also focus on the east-west strategy and use Jackson International Airport as a hub, he said.
Speaking during an Airbus A220 visit to Port Moresby yesterday, the prime minister said Air Niugini’s re-fleeting programme would have to be cost effective.
“PNG can be a hub where we can do business greatly.
“ We are selling more fleets in the region.
“PNG is central to the Pacific and also accessible to the Asian markets,” he said.
Marape said the visit showed that PNG was hospitable, affordable, accessible and business durable.
“Not only for PNG but in a very strategic part, the next 100 years will be dominated by the Asian market play,” he said.
“PNG stands to interface very well with western businesses as well as the eastern businesses, it can be a great pull factor.
“Airbus is now finding its place in our country.
“We do not only want to pick up one or two but perhaps, in the process, PNG can be a resident, hub, in which airline industries, manufacturing industries and other industries can come.
“I am influenced easily by numbers and if the numbers make up.
“It’s not good enough for me to make the call, the call is made by the board of Air Niugini. “We look at ways to make sure that everything becomes efficient and make profit, and serving the country and the region.
“I would like to offer Port Moresby as a place that is devoid of cyclone typhoons, devoid of the seasonal interplace and has sunshine most year around which Air Nuigini can be a hub for aircraft maintenance.”