Part 1: Getting there is half the fun…
Travel to PNG is generally fairly straightforward, with daily flights from Cairns in Australia and regular Air Niugini direct flights from Brisbane and Singapore however things change radically the moment you leave Port Moresby Jacksons International terminal (POM) and walk the short distance to the Domestic terminal!
I had heard all the horror stories of delayed and cancelled connecting flights with Air Niugini, but after two previous trips to PNG that went smoothly, I guess I was lulled into a false sense of security.
This trip, I was to experience the full Kafkaesque nightmare that can randomly occur when trying to fly within PNG.
To set the scene, I was a part of a small group of 7 divers from Melbourne due to stay at Lissenung Island Dive Resort near Kavieng New Ireland in PNG’s NE. They had actually booked as a group a couple of years ago pre-Covid and I was a last-minute ring-in after a cancellation… so according to Air Niugini there was only 6 divers in the group.
The PNG Federal elections were only a few days away, and most provinces were actually in the process of voting as we arrived.
Why PNG’s 2022 election is facing controversy - Policy Forum
Typically there is trouble in PNG around election time, though most of it seems restricted to Port Moresby and the Highlands esp around Mt Hagen, so we were relatively safe out in the far flung areas like Kavieng (KVG).
Last trip they burned a plane on the tarmac at Mendi:
'It's so scary': Angry protesters burn plane in PNG's Highlands
The 2022 election is not shaping up any better, with a woman shot dead as Police allegedly shot directly into the crowd:
PNG Elections : Woman shot dead during Moresby North-East Polling
PNG doesn't have a two major party system like Australia so here's how their election works
Our 07:00am PX91 Air Niugini flight from Cairns in QLD arrived 40+ mins late, supposed to land 08:25am. This did not leave enough time to collect bags, clear Customs and drop bags (even though they had been ticketed through to KVG) particularly as the Domestic terminal was massively overcrowded and processing passengers was very slow… typically taking 10-15 mins each.
VITAL BAGGAGE NOTE: When full of passengers, the bag drop sign in the Domestic airport is pretty much obscured.
Walk towards the large colourful mural right at the end of the Departures Hall, the Business Class check-in and bag drop area is on the right and looks like the pic with arrow.
The group of 6 divers were escorted through everything by a helpful Air Niugini staffer, and just got through in time to the fully loaded and waiting plane. However there was a problem with a group of 4 in front of me at the bag drop area with a huge delay so myself and six others missed the connecting flight to KVG!
Directed to Customer Service, Air Niugini admitted their late first flight had caused the problem so issued us a voucher for two meals, a night’s accommodation and airport transfers at the Lamana Hotel in POM and booked us on the next available flight to KVG at 06:30am next day, arriving 09:00am.
Not much of a delay… and only lost a morning’s diving, so far so good.
The Lamana Hotel was quite comfortable, high security, very helpful staff and good food (esp Indian) with a free airport shuttle bus that leaves on the hour. I’m told Friday and Saturday have a popular disco, so unless you are a fan of LOUD hits of the 70s and 80s its best to avoid those nights!
There are a lot of stairs and no freight elevator (that I could find) so best to leave your heavy dive bag with the Concierge and just take up the bare essentials to your room.
Lamana Hotel
The lobby staff insisted I needed a 3:00am wakeup call to be ready for the 04:00am shuttle bus.
Bleary-eyed and hungry, we arrived at the airport at around 04:15am to discover it was already quite busy with other flights to Mt Hagen, Wewak etc and check-in while slow at least progressed smoothly.
At 04:45am the check-in clerk advised us the 06:30am flight to KVG had been cancelled due to ‘low numbers’ (some locals reckoned a more accurate reason was that the plane had been commandeered by the Govt for electioneering), and all passengers transferred to a ‘tentative’ new flight at 1:00pm, however for some reason I was not actually on the original passenger list anyway!
Back to Customer Service, who agreed I should be on the tentative new KVG flight, but the flight itself couldn’t be added to the Air Niugini online system until the Flight Controller turned up for work at 08:00am. The night shift then departed without fully briefing the incoming dayshift, so we needed to explain our situation again.
Waiting music…
At around 08:45am the Flight Controller approved the 1:00pm KVG flight, we got booked in and given boarding passes, then escorted to the check-in counter ahead of the growing restless queues and FINALLY through security to the Departure area to wait till the 12:30pm boarding time.
12:30pm came and went…
1:00pm came and went…
1:30pm boarding call… woo-hoo aboard at last!
I had emailed the Lissenung resort from the hotel giving them the revised 06:30am flight which should have arrived around 9:00am as their boatman has to make a 1hr journey to collect passengers.
So I needed to contact them to advise the new flight details.
Despite free WiFi in POM airport, for some reason I couldn’t connect to email or make phone calls via my Australian Telstra roaming mobile phone account… luckily a local Petroleum Chemical Engineer also travelling to KVG took pity on me and created a mobile hotspot I could link to.
Thanks Natalie!
ANYWAY… I finally got to KVG in a de Haviland Dash 8-300 twin turbo-prop plane, a roughly 2.5hr trip.
Met by the local mini-bus operator, taken to the Fisheries Wharf and collected by the boatman and FINALLY arrived at the Lissenung Island resort.
One take-out from my unexpected stay in Port Moresby was that overnighting from an international flight is quite OK and gives you a lot more flexibility and a buffer for a less stressful connection to domestic flights which often leave very early next day.
An alternative to the 4 star Lamana Hotel is the near-new 5 star Airways Hotel right at Jacksons airport.
There is a pool and luxury grounds, and it is a bit closer than the Lamana… a few divers stayed there on their last night to meet their outbound international flight next day, celebrating the end of their trip in style.
Airways Hotel - Port Moresby
Gallery
Travel to PNG is generally fairly straightforward, with daily flights from Cairns in Australia and regular Air Niugini direct flights from Brisbane and Singapore however things change radically the moment you leave Port Moresby Jacksons International terminal (POM) and walk the short distance to the Domestic terminal!
I had heard all the horror stories of delayed and cancelled connecting flights with Air Niugini, but after two previous trips to PNG that went smoothly, I guess I was lulled into a false sense of security.
This trip, I was to experience the full Kafkaesque nightmare that can randomly occur when trying to fly within PNG.
To set the scene, I was a part of a small group of 7 divers from Melbourne due to stay at Lissenung Island Dive Resort near Kavieng New Ireland in PNG’s NE. They had actually booked as a group a couple of years ago pre-Covid and I was a last-minute ring-in after a cancellation… so according to Air Niugini there was only 6 divers in the group.
The PNG Federal elections were only a few days away, and most provinces were actually in the process of voting as we arrived.
Why PNG’s 2022 election is facing controversy - Policy Forum
Typically there is trouble in PNG around election time, though most of it seems restricted to Port Moresby and the Highlands esp around Mt Hagen, so we were relatively safe out in the far flung areas like Kavieng (KVG).
Last trip they burned a plane on the tarmac at Mendi:
'It's so scary': Angry protesters burn plane in PNG's Highlands
The 2022 election is not shaping up any better, with a woman shot dead as Police allegedly shot directly into the crowd:
PNG Elections : Woman shot dead during Moresby North-East Polling
PNG doesn't have a two major party system like Australia so here's how their election works
Our 07:00am PX91 Air Niugini flight from Cairns in QLD arrived 40+ mins late, supposed to land 08:25am. This did not leave enough time to collect bags, clear Customs and drop bags (even though they had been ticketed through to KVG) particularly as the Domestic terminal was massively overcrowded and processing passengers was very slow… typically taking 10-15 mins each.
VITAL BAGGAGE NOTE: When full of passengers, the bag drop sign in the Domestic airport is pretty much obscured.
Walk towards the large colourful mural right at the end of the Departures Hall, the Business Class check-in and bag drop area is on the right and looks like the pic with arrow.
The group of 6 divers were escorted through everything by a helpful Air Niugini staffer, and just got through in time to the fully loaded and waiting plane. However there was a problem with a group of 4 in front of me at the bag drop area with a huge delay so myself and six others missed the connecting flight to KVG!
Directed to Customer Service, Air Niugini admitted their late first flight had caused the problem so issued us a voucher for two meals, a night’s accommodation and airport transfers at the Lamana Hotel in POM and booked us on the next available flight to KVG at 06:30am next day, arriving 09:00am.
Not much of a delay… and only lost a morning’s diving, so far so good.
The Lamana Hotel was quite comfortable, high security, very helpful staff and good food (esp Indian) with a free airport shuttle bus that leaves on the hour. I’m told Friday and Saturday have a popular disco, so unless you are a fan of LOUD hits of the 70s and 80s its best to avoid those nights!
There are a lot of stairs and no freight elevator (that I could find) so best to leave your heavy dive bag with the Concierge and just take up the bare essentials to your room.
Lamana Hotel
The lobby staff insisted I needed a 3:00am wakeup call to be ready for the 04:00am shuttle bus.
Bleary-eyed and hungry, we arrived at the airport at around 04:15am to discover it was already quite busy with other flights to Mt Hagen, Wewak etc and check-in while slow at least progressed smoothly.
At 04:45am the check-in clerk advised us the 06:30am flight to KVG had been cancelled due to ‘low numbers’ (some locals reckoned a more accurate reason was that the plane had been commandeered by the Govt for electioneering), and all passengers transferred to a ‘tentative’ new flight at 1:00pm, however for some reason I was not actually on the original passenger list anyway!
Back to Customer Service, who agreed I should be on the tentative new KVG flight, but the flight itself couldn’t be added to the Air Niugini online system until the Flight Controller turned up for work at 08:00am. The night shift then departed without fully briefing the incoming dayshift, so we needed to explain our situation again.
Waiting music…
At around 08:45am the Flight Controller approved the 1:00pm KVG flight, we got booked in and given boarding passes, then escorted to the check-in counter ahead of the growing restless queues and FINALLY through security to the Departure area to wait till the 12:30pm boarding time.
12:30pm came and went…
1:00pm came and went…
1:30pm boarding call… woo-hoo aboard at last!
I had emailed the Lissenung resort from the hotel giving them the revised 06:30am flight which should have arrived around 9:00am as their boatman has to make a 1hr journey to collect passengers.
So I needed to contact them to advise the new flight details.
Despite free WiFi in POM airport, for some reason I couldn’t connect to email or make phone calls via my Australian Telstra roaming mobile phone account… luckily a local Petroleum Chemical Engineer also travelling to KVG took pity on me and created a mobile hotspot I could link to.
Thanks Natalie!
ANYWAY… I finally got to KVG in a de Haviland Dash 8-300 twin turbo-prop plane, a roughly 2.5hr trip.
Met by the local mini-bus operator, taken to the Fisheries Wharf and collected by the boatman and FINALLY arrived at the Lissenung Island resort.
One take-out from my unexpected stay in Port Moresby was that overnighting from an international flight is quite OK and gives you a lot more flexibility and a buffer for a less stressful connection to domestic flights which often leave very early next day.
An alternative to the 4 star Lamana Hotel is the near-new 5 star Airways Hotel right at Jacksons airport.
There is a pool and luxury grounds, and it is a bit closer than the Lamana… a few divers stayed there on their last night to meet their outbound international flight next day, celebrating the end of their trip in style.
Airways Hotel - Port Moresby
Gallery
