3 Nov 2010

PNG Tari airport closure indefinite

6:28 pm on 3 November 2010

Papua New Guinea's National Airport Corporation says it won't reopen Tari airport until it is assured that landowners will not disrupt flights.

The airport, in Southern Highlands province, has been closed for two days as angry landowners demonstrate over compensation payments.

The National Airport Corporation's acting managing director Manuai Kametan says this is not the first time the landowners have disrupted flights.

He says the airport serves about 300,000 people with daily freight and passenger flights.

Mr Kametan says until they receive an assurance, the airport will continue to be closed.

"Our position is that if we can get some guarantee from the provincial administration and the police the ground at Tari that they will manage and they will handle the landowner issue so that it doesn't spill over onto the airport , then we will reopen the airport. Until we get that information, the airport remains closed."

The acting managing director for Papua New Guinea's National Airport Corporation, Manuia Kametan