Travel Air makes maiden flight to Buka

 By JENNIFER NKUI 

Airliner Travel Air made its inaugural commercial flight to the Autonomous Region of Bougainville of Bougainville yesterday.

The Mangi Lo Ples flight, under the command of Capt James O’Keefe, landed at Buka Airport after midday with 42 passengers on board, including Travel Air chairman Eremas Wartoto.  

The rain and the wet weather did not stop the people in Buka from attending the welcome ceremony held at the airport. ABG Minister for Commerce and Industry Wilfred Komba said they had been looking forward to Travel Air’s arrival.

He assured Travel Air chairman Wartoto and his staff that Bougainville was the safest place to invest.

“You will see that Bougainville is a safe place to do business so whatever plans you have, you must bring it over and we will discuss them,” he said.

“Through these discussions, we will look at ways to implement those plans and together we will bring service to Bougainville.

Wartoto said his aim was to provide service to rural travellers of Bougainville.

“As it has been said, it is true that Bougainville is a safe place to invest,” he said.

“However, we must stand “local” and do local business as we are not doing.

“I see that there is still a lot of work to be done, which includes the transportation of students.

“Let’s just not talk about ports to be established in Nissan, Tinputz and Buin but let us do business.

Wartoto presented Komba with a proposal containing issues about Travel Air and the other regional airlines.

“Airlines always struggle because of the high cost of running them, which is inclusive of the operational costs,” he said.

Travel Air is the third airline servicing Bougainville, Airlines PNG and Air Niugini being the other two.