TRAVELING AROUND PNG

I am not going to lie, but you may have already heard all those stories of flight cancelations and delays when you travel around PNG, no matter whether you are a traveler or a resident here. 

Rather than setting this page up to vent my experiences with the national carrier (a.k.a. Air Niugini), I will start with the list of air carriers that serve around PNG, depending on your circumstances, they may or may not be your alternative way to get to the destination. 

The general rule of thumb is to stick with the morning flights where possible with domestic routes and have 1-2 days between your domestic and international leg. Make sure you check in online as soon as it opens to avoid disappointment.

Though cancelations do happen with international routes, they are usually on time and give you advance warning via email or text regarding to delays and schedule changes. However the story for domestic routes usually consists of long waits at the airport and tracking the flight statuses consistently on websites such as Flight radar. It is also important to read any news regarding to runway repairs as that means a much smaller plane and playing musical seats to get on that flight you booked!

With Air Niugini, most domestic flights are immediate turnarounds at the destination with a few exceptions such as bus route style flight from Port Moresby via Rabaul or Kimbe to Kavieng.  Like my recent trip to Kavieng, because the runway repairs they have to fly a much smaller aircraft and at a significant capacity reduction so I was told you had to be the first 15 passengers at online check in to get a seat on that plane. Sometimes they will merge a few flights together which means any extra passengers with be put onto the next flight, this can mean anything from a few hours to several days. 

At other times it is the weather that have caused the delays. Fog will impact landing and takeoff as many regional airports and airstrips do not have adequate lights for low visibility and the terrain in most parts of Papua New Guinea are very challenging. The more extreme case is where I have been told the landing strip was too wet for the plane to land due to rain!

With Air Niugini you must always ensure you online check in as soon as it opens. This is usually from 12am the day before you fly though they say it opens 48 hours before departure on their website. Regardless whether you have booked business class or have any frequent flyer status, successfully online check in for your flight means you will have a seat on the plane. Especially on domestic flights (but can happen on international flights), those who check in at the airport mostly take up the spaces that were left over from online check check in. If those flights were overbooked, then you are queuing up to be on the standby list. 

A web based flight tracker is a useful tool to predict delays and cancelations. Thankfully with the relatively low traffic and small fleet Air Niugini has, you can often track the inbound flight to see if it is going to land on time.  Domestic routes take a bit more guess work as aircrafts generally do not show their flight number but instead use their aircraft registration number. Use in conjunction with the flight status tab on Air Niugini's website, you will get far more up to date flight information than the departure board. 

As an example, I will show you an example of tracking a flight from Kavieng to Port Moresby. If you search the flight number, you will notice the service will travel from Manus via Kavieng then to Port Moresby. Therefore you will need to look up when the same type of aircraft travels to Manus from Port Moresby. If that inbound service is happening early in the morning (i.e. before 8am), then you should consider searching for other domestic turnaround routes that use the same aircraft and/or look up the flight schedule to see which turnaround route is possible for that aircraft. 

Confused? Yes it is a rather confusing business as you are trying to reverse engineer the flight planner's brain here. It might be easier if explained in this way.

1) There's always a 4-5am "extra" flight put on to fly those who were affected by delays the day before

2) If that's not possible, that extra flight might be "squeezed" in between the normal schedule, i.e. the afternoon runs for that aircraft is pushed back

3) some airport such as Gurney (Alotau), Wewak and Hoskins (Kimbe) have not be upgraded so they may lack the facilities for aircrafts to land in low visibility or in dark, hence the afternoon flight that are already delayed often end up being cancelled

4) For most flights their are diverted back to Port Moresby as ground facilities are usually limited in regional airports

Items such as travel adaptors, memory cards and even your duty free goods may have been in your packing list but somehow didn't quite make it with you to Papua New Guinea. Though I do recommend bringing everything you can before you fly out but it is not impossible to get some of these items.

Before you decide to head to the electronic stores in Port Moresby, it is worth asking if your travel companions have any spares with them as that's the most convenient and cost effective solution to your problems. On the other hand, it is not uncommon for expats to bring a few electronic gadgets back from overseas for their friends and relatives.

Before you decide to head to the electronic stores in Port Moresby, it is worth asking if your travel companions have any spares with them as that's the most convenient and cost effective solution to your problems. On the other hand, it is not uncommon for expats to bring a few electronic gadgets back from overseas for their friends and relatives.

If a trip down to the electronic stores is a necessity, then you should investigate the following locations first. There's no guarantee of anything being in stock:

1. Waterfront - known as the most expensive supermarket in Port Moresby and the entire Papua New Guinea but also have the widest selection of imported goods. For electronics, you need to check the store called 'cool stuff' next to it. 
2. Vision city and Rangeview - these are shopping malls located in the heart of Waigani and not too far from a few hotels such as the Holiday Inn and the Stanley. If you need a travel adaptor, head to the 'handyman's shop' which has got a wide range of tools and fun size batteries at a reasonable price. Of course the trade off is you shouldn't expect them to last.
3. Brian Bell - This is the go to department store if  you want a bit more quality assurance with what you get. Though they mainly sell white goods and other homewares, this is not a bad place to get your travel water bottles and tupperwares before you head off into the provinces.