Air Niugini’s (ANG’s) fleet consists of three Boeing 767, two Boeing 737, two Bombardier Dash 8-100*, four Bombardier Dash 8-200*, three Bombardier Dash 8-300* and six Fokker 100 aircraft. ANG has one Boeing 787 on order.
This article below is from a post by Exepreneur on 25th June 2023 on Air Niugini when unforeseen technical difficulties with two of the airline’s Boeing 767 aircraft were both temporarily rendered unserviceable in Brisbane, Australia. This had led to major adjustments in Air Niugini’s flight schedules, disrupting travel plans for passengers both domestically and internationally but incurring the high cost of ownership and one among them is reputational loss.
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“๐๐ช๐ณ ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต ๐ง๐ข๐ค๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฃ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ท๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ท๐ช๐ต๐ข๐ญ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ข ๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ, ๐ณ๐ฆ๐จ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐ด๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ฆ. ๐๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฑ๐ด ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ, ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ฎ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฐ๐บ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ถ๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฆ๐ด” says World Bank.
However, when unexpected technical difficulties arise, airlines face the daunting task of maintaining their operations while ensuring passenger safety.
Air Niugini, the national airline of Papua New Guinea (PNG), is facing a difficult situation as it deals with a longer-than-expected repair time for its Boeing 767 planes.
The Acting Chief Executive Officer, Gary Seddon states that unforeseen technical difficulties with two of the airline’s Boeing 767 aircraft have rendered them both temporarily unserviceable in Brisbane, Australia leading to major adjustments in Air Niugini’s flight schedules, disrupting travel plans for passengers both domestically and internationally.
Beyond the inconvenience to travelers, flight disruptions also have economic consequences. PNG heavily relies on air transport for both domestic connectivity and international trade. Business travelers, who depend on consistent flight schedules, face challenges in conducting their operations smoothly. The country’s tourism sector which has started to recover from the Covid19 impact suffers setbacks due to the disruptions, impacting revenue and employment in related industries.
“๐๐ถ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ๐น๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ช๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ข๐ช๐ณ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ท๐ข๐ช๐ญ๐ข๐ฃ๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ด๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ด, ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ช๐ฑ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ค๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ฎ๐ข๐บ ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ. ๐๐ฆ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐บ ๐ข๐ช๐ณ๐ค๐ณ๐ข๐ง๐ต ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ 25 ๐๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฆ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ด ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ค๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต
โ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข๐ช๐ณ๐ค๐ณ๐ข๐ง๐ต ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ข๐ท๐ข๐ช๐ญ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ, ๐ข๐ด ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐จ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ, ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ด๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐จ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ฃ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฆ,” the CEO says
The Airline adds that it is working closely with its industry partners and evaluating the possibility of โwet leasingโ additional aircraft to supplement its fleet and minimize service disruptions.
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Reading through this press release you could sense this underlying challenge of a prevalent lack of standisation as well as a lack of strategic foresightedness (i.e. the complexities of the challenges increases with longer time horizons as this brings increase uncertainties and more variables and requires strategic foresightedness to mitigate the risks associated with obsolescence).
Standardisation in physical asset intensive industries, according to “R.A.I” http://reliability.ai/ Chatbot, is a continuous improvement endeavour that aims to lower operational cost, optimise performance as well as improve safety in industries such as in the airlines where safety of people is of the utmost paramount. Standardisation in maintenance refers to the process of establishing and implementing consistent practices and procedures for maintenance activities. This can include standardising equipment maintenance procedures, work instructions and job plans. Standardisation helps to ensure that maintenance activities are performed consistently and efficiently, which can improve equipment reliability, reduce downtime and increase safety. Standardisation can also help to streamline maintenance processes and reduce cost by eliminating unnecessary steps and reducing the need for rework.
The challenge with Standardisation is made harder with obsolescence and unstable BOD and Exec. Mgmnt not providing the strategic foresight to mitigate this risk of obsolescence.
Not many airlines operate B767 anymore and hence parts supply would be an issue. Boeing began developing the B767 nearly half a century ago. The model sold well during the 1980s and 1990s but demand plunged after 9/11 attacks. By 2030 it is expected that Boeing will cease manufacturing of B767. ANG need to move forward faster with the B787 deals to ease up the international routes and free up the 737 for major domestic routes like Lae and Hagen. But this lack of strategic foresight in mitigating the risk of obsolescence can be attributed to instability at the BOD and Exec. Mgmnt levels.
The quicker things change and the suppliers of aircraft fleet parts go out of business then the parts become obsolete. The risk associated with obsolescence includes safety, reputational loss and the economic cost of: re-fleeting the production assets (in this instance the aircrafts); restocking of new inventory of parts to support the new fleet; reviewing of maintenance systems (policies, standards and procedures); and upskilling/licensing of maintenance personnel as well as pilots to maintain and operate the new fleet.
