Air Niuginithe national airline Papua New Guineasigned a firm order with Airbus for six A220-100s as part of its fleet modernization program. In addition, the carrier will acquire three A220-300s And two more A220-100s from third-party donors.
The order was announced at a special event in Port Moresby by Gary Seddon, Acting Managing Director of Air Niugini and Anand Stanley, President of Airbus Asia Pacific, in the presence of James Marape, Prime Minister of Papua New -Guinea and William Duma, Minister of State Enterprises. Combining the longest range, lowest fuel consumption and widest cabin in the class 100-150 seatsunderlines the Airbus press release, the A220 will be operated by Air Niugini on its national and regional network. The new fleet will provide more capacity and greater reliability across the national network and allow the carrier to fly from the capital Port Moresby to new destinations in the Asia-Pacific region.
“This is a significant milestone in the history of our national airline which will support the growth of trade and tourism in Papua New Guinea”says Gary Seddon, interim CEO of Air Niugini, “The new aircraft will provide the highest levels of comfort for our passengers, while ensuring a significant reduction in fuel consumption and emissions compared to the aircraft they will replace. » For his part, Christian Scherer, Chief Commercial Officer and Head of International Airbus, said: “Air Niugini has seen how the A220 brings its airline much more than competing products in this area, therefore much more efficiency, autonomy, comfort and growth potential.” “We thank Air Niugini for its confidence in Airbus and we are committed to offering our full support to the airline in its transition to its new fleet. »
Air Niugini also announced that it had selected for its fleet a flight planning support system from NAVBLUE, an Airbus subsidiary. Called N-Flight Planning (N-FP), the solution will help the airline optimize fueldeadlines and costs to meet operational needs, while ensuring security and overall compliance.
“The A220 is the most modern airliner in its category”says the Airbus press release, carrying between 100 and 150 passengers on flights of up to 3,450 nautical miles (6,390 km). Depending on the cabin configuration, theA220-100 serves the 100 to 135 seat market, while the largest A220-300 is perfectly suited to the 120 to 150 seat market.
The aircraft is powered by GTF engines latest generation of Pratt & Whitney. Delivering 25% lower fuel consumption and CO2 emissions per seat than previous generation aircraft, the A220 also has the largest cabin, seats and windows in its class, ensuring superior comfort. Like all Airbus aircraft, the A220 is already capable of operating with up to 50% of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Airbus aims to have all its aircraft capable of operating with 100% SAF by 2030.
The A220s will notably replace the 6 Fokker 70s and 7 Fokker 100s with a capacity of 73 and 101 seats. The fleet ofAir Nuigini currently includes one Boeing 737-800 (3 remaining to be delivered), two Boeing 767-300ERs (which will be replaced from 2026 by two Boeing 787-8s) and 3 Bombardier Dash-8-400s (+ 6 still on order ).
