Exclusive: East Air will keep flying after owner’s Air Niugini move

“We have installed a management team to run that at this point in time. We ceased the Hamilton Island services for a period of time in the non-peak period,” he said, adding that the future of East Air is “very encouraging”.

“There is a lot of work going on in the background on the next step for East Air, which is an exciting one – commercial in confidence at the moment, but hopefully we’ll be able to announce that in the not-too-distant future as well.”

Milne told Australian Aviation that he has taken care to make sure there is no conflict of interest between his roles as chief executive of Air Niugini and owner of East Air, and that his return to the PNG airline after departing in 2020 represents a chance he missed due to COVID-19.

“We’ve done it all under the right governance structure … we’ve got very clear guidelines on what I can and cannot do, which is absolutely right. I’ve got no problems with that. I’ve also notified CASA of what we’re doing,” he said.

“I sort of feel like this is an unfinished job for me. I really do want to see Air Niugini succeed and become the airline that we know it, that we can become.

“It’s a good airline, don’t get me wrong, but the opportunity for refleeting and having that next generation of aeroplanes in here was sort of a carrot I just couldn’t refuse.”

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Air Niugini’s fleet renewal program, which is replacing ageing Fokker 70s and 100s with new Airbus A220s, will be one of Milne’s primary focuses as CEO.

“With the entry into service of the A220, the Fokkers are getting to that point where we’ll need to look at a replacement for them, which the A220 is. The 767s and 737s also need replacements down the track,” he said.

“So, the primary strategic view is fleet replacement, but it’s also stabilisation of the current day-of operations and delivering the schedule that we publish.”

The news comes after Air Niugini last month announced it would bring its new A220s onto Sydney services from 29 March and add a third weekly flight.

“We have announced recently the third Sydney service. We will be introducing the A220 on Cairns-Port Moresby and Sydney-Port Moresby as well. So, three times a week out of Sydney, which is going to be a very nice product with the beautiful cabin that it has, and the wi-fi, et cetera,” said Milne.

“With the startup of the PNG Chiefs rugby league team in 2028 we think we’re going to be well-positioned to provide that audience traffic both ways.”

Air Niugini revealed Milne’s return to the top job last week, with chair Karl Yalo calling him a “proven aviation leader” with over 44 years of experience across PNG and Australia.

“Mr Milne previously served as Air Niugini’s CEO from 2018 to 2020, departing as the COVID-19 pandemic began to reshape global aviation.”

“Before that, he held a range of senior executive roles within the Qantas Group, including leadership responsibilities spanning Engineering, Operations Performance, the Integrated Operations Centre and Maintenance Operations – experience that helped guide a major airline through complex operational and market conditions.

“Alan’s deep understanding of the complexities of airline management in the Asia/Pacific region is exactly what is needed at this time for Air Niugini.”

Qantas also plans to launch two 737-800 services per week from Sydney to Port Moresby starting in March, adding around 35,000 seats per year and complementing existing Brisbane–Port Moresby flights.