Air Niugini (PX, Port Moresby) has announced it would terminate its services to Townsville in north-eastern Australia as of October 1, 2018, citing the termination of its code-share partnership with Qantas (QF, Sydney Kingsford Smith) as one of the contributing factors.
The Papua New Guinean flag carrier currently serves the Australian city 2x weekly out of Port Moresby, using Fokker 70 equipment. Air Niugini said it was not able to generate a profit on this route.
The only other international route out of Townsville, Jetstar Airways' service to Denpasar, ended earlier this year.
Air Niugini also announced it would reduce the frequency of its service to Sydney Kingsford Smith from 3x weekly to 2x weekly. It blamed the Australian International Air Services Commission's (IASC) decision to block the continuation and expansion of the code-share with Qantas for the cuts.
"The decision by the Australian Government regulator to disapprove the Qantas application to code-share on Air Niugini’s innovative direct services to Townsville and Sydney, thereby denying customers a choice of marketing airline on these developmental and marginal flights, is one factor in the airline’s decision to suspend services to Townsville, and reduce Sydney flights to twice weekly," Acting CEO Tahawar Durrani said.
In May, the IASC recommended ending the existing code-share partnership between Qantas and Air Niugini on services out of Brisbane International and Sydney to Port Moresby, and blocked the establishment of such a partnership on Townsville and Cairns routes. It said that an expanded code-share would impede other players, notably Virgin Australia International, from entering the Australia-PNG market.
After the termination of the Townsville route and the reduction in frequencies to Sydney, Tokyo Narita, Nadi, and Port Vila, Air Niugini will use the aircraft to increase frequencies on key domestic routes.
