Jake Nelson

The PNG flag carrier’s first A220, P2-PGA, landed in Sydney as flight PX1 from Port Moresby at 6pm on Sunday, replacing the 737-800s and 767-300s that formerly operated the service. It is the second international route for Air Niugini’s A220s, with Port Moresby-Cairns commencing last week.

The competition watchdog noted in its submission to the Productivity Commission’s inquiry into regional airfares that the number of passengers travelling on remote routes has increased by 13.3 per cent since 2019, while seat capacity has increased by 10.8 per cent.

In its submission to the inquiry on regional airfares, Virgin – which previously served regional routes with a fleet of ATR 72 turboprops – said the commission “should assess competition viability at a granular, route-specific level rather than relying solely on the number of operators present”.

P2-PGB touched down in Cairns as flight PX90 at 11:20am on Friday, having previously operated only on Air Niugini’s domestic network within Papua New Guinea. The Cairns–Port Moresby route has previously been operated by a mix of Fokker 70 and 100 planes, as well as 737-800s.

The 737 MAX 8, VH-8VI “Lake Centenary”, is Virgin’s 16th aircraft in the 737 MAX family, and the 100th 737 in its current fleet. Virgin is expecting 12 MAX 8s to join the fleet in 2026, as well as four Embraer E190-E2s for Virgin Australia Regional Airlines, the first having arrived last year.

Between mid-April and late July, the Flying Kangaroo will switch its Paris flights from Perth to operate from Sydney via Singapore, adding two extra services per week and allowing 60 extra customers per flight, while Perth–Rome will fly daily and Perth–Singapore 10 times per week.