An ongoing dispute between Puma Energy and the Bank of PNG has restricted the supply of fuel, causing domestic flights in Papua New Guinea to be cancelled.
In a statement, Puma Energy has decided to restrict the supply of fuel to Air Niugini and all other airlines effective from Thursday, December 1st.
This restriction applies to Port Moresby and all the airports around Papua New Guinea.
Air Niugini was forced to cancel its remaining domestic flights Thursday due to Puma Energy’s refusal to supply Jet A1 fuel to the airlines.
Unfortunately, there is no alternative supplier of aviation fuel in most airports, including Port Moresby. And, these cancellations will have to be ongoing each day until Puma’s restrictions are removed, the airline stated.
Puma has advised that they will continue to refuel international flights as normal.
Air Niugini said: “We have done everything possible to ensure that this situation did not occur and that we could continue to support the people of Papua New Guinea especially in this busy Christmas period. We can assure all our customers that we are completely up to date with our payments to PUMA Energy and this regrettable situation is 100 percent outside the control of Air Niugini. We will continue to work with all concerned to ensure normal operations can resume as quickly as possible.