Crash delays PNG merger

The Papua New Guinea Government has announced it has approved in principle the merger of Air Niugini Limited, the state owned national carrier of Papua New Guinea and Airlines PNG.

The merger is expected to bring added opportunities for the people of Papua New Guinea, with immediate plans to extend aviation services into a range of rural areas not presently well served.

The merger will enable the combined airline, which will operate one of the largest fleet of aircraft in the South Pacific, to better cover an extensive range of international and domestic destinations, serving locations from Singapore right down to small villages in PNG.

However, since the crash of the Dash 8-102 of Airlines PNG on 13 October with the loss of  28 people near Madang the merger has been suspended.

There were four survivors, including the captain and co-pilot. The co-pilot was New Zealander Campbell Wagstaff and is believed to be a long time resident of Australia with over 2500 hours on the Dash 8.