Air Niugini extends in-house Heavy Maintenance checks to Solomon Airlines

August 1, 2019

Air Niugini has now expanded its in-house heavy maintenance checks to include other airlines from within the region, commencing with Solomon Airline?s Dash 8 aircraft this week.

Managing Director, Mr. Alan Milne said it is a milestone achievement for ANG to carry out in-house heavy maintenance checks for the first time on aircraft belonging to another airline, adding that this expansion of services reflects the airline?s continuous training and successful professional development program for its engineering and maintenance staff over the years.

Mr. Milne said, ? It?s history in the making, a proud moment for Air Niugini and Papua New Guinea to see another airline engaging our engineering and maintenance services.?

?With my engineering background, I can assure everyone that the staff here at Air Niugini Engineering are some of the best I have seen so far. I also acknowledge the Board and management of Solomon Airlines for the trust and confidence they have placed in us. The team is all set and motivated; we are confident we will get the job done on time.?

Mr. Milne also said currently there were not many facilities in Australia and a lot of operators were sending their aircraft to Europe for heavy maintenance checks.

? So we see Air Niugini perfectly positioned to start doing that maintenance.?

A ?C? check or Heavy Maintenance Check is a mandatory major inspection carried out after a certain period of time and flight hours, and are typically carried out after every two to three years, whilst an ?A? and ?B? check are lighter checks done every two to six months.

Basically, a ?C? check is an inspection that is designed for technicians and maintenance staff to have sufficient time to check all the structure and components of an aircraft at a certain interval, which requires the aircraft to be on the ground for a certain period of time. The duration of the maintenance check will depend on the amount of work that needs to be done, some may take two months to complete whilst others up to five months.

Since July 2018 to date, Air Niugini?s in-house heavy maintenance checks, apart from achieving costs saving by keeping money in PNG, have resulted in improved quality of the completed aircraft. It also ensures capacity building, in terms of local knowledge and up-skilling of maintenance staff – especially young PNG Aircraft Maintenance Engineers who are coming through the ranks after years of extensive training.

Corporate Communications Department

Tuesday 30th July 2018