PNG Air

Is PNG Air safe?

PNG Air has a mixed record that is getting better. Under its old name, Airlines PNG, it lost two aircraft in 26 months: a Twin Otter that flew into a mountain near Kokoda in 2009 and a Dash 8 that crashed near Madang in 2011. Together they killed 41 people. It has had no fatal accident since, and it is replacing the old Dash 8s with new ATR turboprops. We score it 64.

That puts it just ahead of Air Niugini (63), the national airline it competes with on most domestic routes. The two crashes are now more than 15 years old but still inside our 20-year window, and both came down to how crews handled the aircraft, so the accident record still holds PNG Air back.

The 2009 and 2011 crashes

Kokoda, August 2009. Flight CG4684, a Twin Otter from Port Moresby, was descending through the Kokoda Gap in thick cloud when it hit a forested ridge at about 5,800 feet, 11 km from the airstrip. All 13 people on board died. Thunderstorms and low cloud were forecast, and the investigation found the crew tried to continue visually in weather that did not allow it. The co-pilot was not qualified to fly in cloud, the airline had no procedure for recovering from flying into cloud by mistake, and the regulator had not caught those operations.

Madang, October 2011. The Dash 8-100 on flight CG1600 was being hand-flown because the autopilot was unserviceable. On a steep descent towards the coast the captain pulled the power levers back through the flight idle gate into the ground range, which the flight manual prohibits. Both propellers oversped by more than 60%, one engine was wrecked and the other propeller could not be brought back. The crew did not run the emergency checklists and did not lower the gear or flaps before the forced landing in bush near the Guabe River. Four of the 32 people on board survived.

The PNG Accident Investigation Commission (AIC) also found that a "beta lockout" device, which stops the propellers going into reverse in flight, was not fitted. At the time only the US required it. It became mandatory on Dash 8s worldwide in June 2016.

The airline's last accident was in May 2012, when a Twin Otter landing on the wet grass strip at Sasereme was damaged. Nobody was hurt.

What the investigators found since

The AIC reports on PNG Air in the last 10 years are about procedures, not crashes:

• Nadzab, June 2017. A PNG Air Dash 8 inbound to Lae read back the wrong inbound track and passed close to a Kodiak flying the other way. The controller did not catch the readback error and applied the separation rules incorrectly.
• Mount Hagen, December 2020. An ATR 72-600 on a steep descent got an engine fire warning. The crew shut the engine down and fired both extinguishers, then landed safely. There was no fire. ATR had warned operators in 2017 that this warning could trigger falsely in exactly that kind of descent, and the AIC found no evidence that PNG Air had passed the bulletin on to its pilots. The AIC's one recommendation was aimed at PNG Air's handling of manufacturer bulletins.
• Goroka, May 2026. An ATR rejected take-off at about 70 knots because of a flock of birds and burst two tyres. Nobody was hurt.

In May 2018 a Hercules flown by Lynden Air Cargo for PNG Air hit a parked Air Niugini 737 at Port Moresby. Lynden's crew flew it, so it does not count here, and Air Niugini's page weighs it lightly as damage that airline did not cause.

A new fleet, finally

The biggest change is the aircraft. Since October 2025 PNG Air has taken several brand-new ATR 72-600s, named after the towns they serve, and in February 2026 NBC PNG reported a fourth new arrival in six months, with seven more due that year. The first ATR 42-600, a smaller version for shorter strips, arrived in May 2026. ATR said PNG Air plans to move to an all-ATR fleet, and three more 42-600s owned by Ok Tedi landowner companies are being leased in.

The Dash 8-100s that remain are old, and the type was involved in the 2011 crash. Replacing them with new ATRs, which have modern avionics and flight warning systems, is a real improvement. The fleet factor scores 72 for now and should rise once they are gone.

Who checks PNG Air?

The Civil Aviation Safety Authority of PNG certifies the airline. Papua New Guinea is not on the FAA's safety assessment list, because no PNG airline flies to the US; that is a gap, not a downgrade. No PNG airline is on the EU Air Safety ListEU Air Safety ListThe European Commission's list of airlines banned or restricted from flying in EU airspace because they do not meet international safety standards.More in the glossary. PNG Air is not an IATA member and was not on IATA's IOSAIOSAThe IATA Operational Safety Audit, an international audit of an airline's safety management and operations. Every IATA member must pass it.More in the glossary registry when we searched it on 28 October 2026; Air Niugini has an IOSA audit. The AIC is a real strength: its reports are detailed and frank, and they name the airline's own failings. The oversight factor scores 64.

Flying PNG Air in the highlands

PNG Air flies almost only inside Papua New Guinea, from Port Moresby to Lae, Mount Hagen, Goroka, Kiunga, Madang, Hoskins, Vanimo, Kavieng and about a dozen more. Many of these airports sit in valleys surrounded by mountains, cloud builds quickly from late morning, and navigation aids are few. Most fatal crashes on the AIC's list since 2016 involved small charter and mission operators on remote strips, not scheduled airlines, but the terrain is the same.

• Take the morning flight. Highland airports are clearer early, and afternoon flights are the ones most often turned back.
• Choose the ATR when you can. New ATR 72-600s fly most trunk routes; the remaining Dash 8s are much older.
• Do not push for a landing. A diversion or cancellation for weather is the system working. Kokoda in 2009 is what happens when a crew presses on into cloud.

How we scored it

The accident record (64) carries the most weight. Both fatal crashes, in 2009 and 2011, are more than 15 years old, which puts it in our 60–79 band, but together they killed 41 people on a small fleet, so it sits low in that band. The highland environment (55) is the weakest factor. Oversight (64) and incidents (64) sit in the middle, held back by the missing IOSAIOSAThe IATA Operational Safety Audit, an international audit of an airline's safety management and operations. Every IATA member must pass it.More in the glossary audit and the bulletin finding. The fleet (72) is the strongest factor and is improving every month. Compare Fiji Airways at 85.