Air Niugini (PX, Port Moresby) has announced that its freight subsidiary, Air Niugini Cargo, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Hevilift (PNG) (Mount Hagen) for the exclusive marketing and use of one of the latter's P2F-converted ATR42 freighters, P2-KSJ (msn 96).
In a statement, ANGCL general manager Gus Kraus said a final agreement was in the offing adding that "certain" compliance issues still had to be addressed before doing so.
“The best and most effective way forward was to co-jointly enter into this agreement considering Hevilift’s investment in the converting of one of its passenger ATR - Avions de Transport Régional aircraft into a full freighter, an aircraft that our staff at Air Niugini Cargo are all too familiar with considering we had two similar versions only a few years ago,” Air Niugini’s acting chief executive officer, Tahawar Durrani added.
P2-KSJ arrived at its base, Port Moresby, this past weekend and features Air Niugini's logo and livery.
According to Kraus, it will initially be used for charter work with oil and petroleum firms expressing strong interest.
“We would like to schedule the freighter but its too early as yet to commit to a schedule as the general trend of cargo movements has been soft but demand for locally-made products is growing so we will be reviewing regularly when the time is right to include a controlled schedule,” he said.
Having no dedicated freighters of its own, Air Niugini Cargo currently relies on bellyhold capacity on its passenger aircraft.
