Air Niugini (PX, Port Moresby) is preparing to overhaul its fleet. The state-owned carrier's chief executive officer has said the airline's two ageing widebody jets are top of his list for replacement and says this could occur as soon as next year. Following that, replacement aircraft for its remaining narrowbody Boeing and Fokker Aircraft fleet are under consideration.

Port Moresby's Post-Courier newspaper reports CEO Bruce Alabaster saying this week that he was looking to replace the airline's pair of B767-300ERs as soon as 2023. Alabaster added he was eyeing replacing the carrier's single B737-800 and fleet of F100 and F70 jets as well.

"We are excited to get the replacement of our aircraft and we are doing much better than during the Covid-period so we are looking forward to an exciting next five years," he told the newspaper.

Alabaster was attending the 2022 Papua New Guinea Investment Conference in Brisbane earlier this week. Air Niugini's two leased B767-300(ER)s handle the airline's flights into Asia and Brisbane International and Sydney Kingsford Smith. The youngest of the two planes, P2-PXV (msn 30341), is leased from Icelandair (FI, Reykjavik Keflavik) and is almost 23 years old, while the older jet, P2-PXW (msn 25365), is leased from Abu Dhabi's Presidential Flight (AUH, Abu Dhabi International) and is now over 30 years old. Both B767s have been with Air Niugini for over a decade, ch-aviation fleets data reveals.

In 2020, Air Niugini delayed the delivery of four B737-8 MAX due to begin arriving later that year until at least 2024 while the airline conducted a broader review of its fleet plans. Alabaster says the airline now has 26 planes in service, including the two widebodies. The overall average age of the total fleet exceeds 24 years.

The MAX 8s were due to replace both B767-300(ER)s and the carrier's sole B737-800, but Alabaster's predecessor, Alan Milne, said when pausing the MAX deliveries that another aircraft type might better serve Air Niugini's needs. However, the four MAX remain on order from Boeing.

Neither CEO has articulated a replacement plan for the six F70s and seven F100s still in the fleet. The average age of Air Niugini's Fokker fleet is over 28 years. Those Fokkers fly to the airline's key domestic ports, around Melanesia, and to Cairns in Northern Queensland.

ch-aviation has approached Air Niugini for further clarification regarding their immediate fleet plans.