Getting to Papua New Guinea and avoiding Air Niugini
 

I'll probably need to go to Port Moresby (POM) soon from CGK. My options are to fly to SIN and take the PX nonstop to POM from there. Another alternative is to fly CGK-MNL & MNL-POM on Philippine Airlines. Yet another option is to fly DPS-CNS on Jetstar & CNS-POM on QantasLink (yes, it would mean using this as an excuse to go to Bali).

Given what's being said about Air Niugini on other threads here, I'd much rather avoid it. The other options aren't great either. Am I overlooking other better options?

Qantas (737-800) or Virgin Australia (F100) via BNE?

I've taken the Air Niugini flight from SIN a few times in J. The experience was perfectly fine from my perspective each time.

What's your concern re Air Niugini?

Going to Port Moresby, Air Niugini is the least of your safety concerns... Given the extremely time consuming nature of the alternatives I'd suck it up and take the SIN flight

From CGK to POM via an Australian city would require 2 connections since there are no direct flights from CGK to BNE.

As for Air Niugini, others on this forum have talked about multi-day delays that can happen.

Yeah, normally I would do exactly that. But my schedule is going to be so tight that if PX has one of its long delays, exacerbated by the fact that they have a small fleet, it would have an outsize impact on my itinerary. But these are probably rare occurrences and my concerns may be exaggerated. Going SIN-POM is probably the most pragmatic option.

I've flown 72 flights on PX and can recall 3 delays that resulted in missed connections. One was insignificant and I was reaccommodated with no net effect on my trip. The other two were more significant, one of which basically ruined a trip.

I did try to fly QF or VA where practical so if I'd used PX for those trips, my results might be slightly worse ;) There were a handful of times where it looked like PX was having a major SNAFU and I was glad to be booked on another carrier.

Hopefully that helps give you an idea of the odds :D

CNS is a pleasant enough option if you can get there efficiently. There are about 4 return flights at various times most days across PX and QF link so some good contingency and a very quiet (slightly weird) airport.

Shame they cut their DPS-POM flight, but of all the options i'd say that the SIN-POM is the best option. They'd leased a 757 from an Icelandic company for my POM-SIN leg, so have capabilities for covering when their long haul planes are down. I'm not sure that a double change via Cairns would be any more reliable to be honest, especially if any leg involved Garuda. Any issues I (or any of my friends have had) are on domestics, mainly due to weather issues to smaller airports.

A friend did fly on Philippines Airlines via MNL, and on time both directions, but that's a poll of 1.

I have to say I felt incredibly safe on PX despite the incredibly difficult terrain and destinations they serve. I was under the impression they had new planes for their longhaul flights though - I can only see 767's scheduled?