Dispute leads to fuel supply shortage stopping PNG flights

7:13 am on 2 December 2022
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Photo: Koro Vaka'uta / RNZ

Papua New Guinea's national airline, Air Niugini, has released a statement saying a problem with its fuel supplier has forced it to cancel its remaining flights on Thursday and about half of all its domestic flights until further notice.

The airline said its supplier Puma Energy is in a dispute with the PNG central bank, the Bank of PNG, and is restricting fuel as a result.

Puma has told the airline it will continue to service all international flights.

The airline has apologised to travellers for the disruption but said the situation is completely outside its control.

Air Niugini said it will endeavour to advise passengers ahead of time that their flights have been cancelled but it cannot always manage this since it's difficult to predict when the daily amount of fuel allocated will run out.