Airlink (Papua New Guinea)
Encyclopedia
Airlink was an airline
Airline
An airline provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines lease or own their aircraft with which to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for mutual benefit...
based in Madang
Madang
Madang is the capital of Madang Province and is a town with a population of 27,420 on the north coast of Papua New Guinea. It was first settled by the Germans in the 19th century....
, Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...
that ceased operations in late July 2007. It provided high-frequency scheduled and charter services to outlying regions of Papua New Guinea. Its main base was Madang Airport
Madang Airport
Madang Airport , is an airport located in Madang, Papua New Guinea.-Airlines and destinations:-World War II:During World War II, occupied by the Imperial Japanese Army in January 1943, as a forward operating airfield for aircraft based at Wewak. Later expanded to a 3250' x 240' runway with a single...
, with hubs at Rabaul Airport
Rabaul Airport
Rabaul Airport, also called Tokua Airport, is an airport serving Kokopo and Rabaul, the current and former capitals of East New Britain Province on New Britain island in Papua New Guinea....
, Kavieng Airport
Kavieng Airport
Kavieng Airport is located in Kavieng, New Ireland, Papua New Guinea and is located approximately 1 km away from the town centre.The airport was first built by the Japanese as a military airbase in 1942...
, Wewak International Airport and Mount Hagen Airport
Mount Hagen Airport
Mount Hagen Airport is an airport in Mount Hagen, Papua New Guinea .-Airlines and destinations:...
.
History
The airline was established in 1989 and started scheduled operations in June 1990. It bought out the assets of Talair in the New Guinea Islands Region in October 1990. The company suffered considerable hardships due to the 1994 RabaulRabaul
Rabaul is a township in East New Britain province, Papua New Guinea. The town was the provincial capital and most important settlement in the province until it was destroyed in 1994 by falling ash of a volcanic eruption. During the eruption, ash was sent thousands of metres into the air and the...
volcanic eruptions, including the loss of four aircraft.
Accidents and incidents
- On 30 March 2007, an Airlink Embraer EMB-110-P1 Bandeirante carrying newspapers crashed in West New BritainWest New BritainWest New Britain is a province of Papua New Guinea on the islands of New Britain. The provincial capital is Kimbe. The area of the province in 21,000 km², and there are 184,508 inhabitants . West New Britain produces palm oil for export...
province between Gasmata and Kandrian. Both pilots were instantly killed whilst faulty maintenance is suspected. - Two weeks later on 13 April 2007, Airlink Flight P2ALK, a Cessna 404Cessna 404|-See also:-External links:* *...
crashed on landing at Goroka AirportGoroka Airport- Domestic terminal :The Terminal operates 2 flights daily to Port Moresby. The departure lounge contains a snack shop and an Avis car hire center.An Air Niugini Travel Agent operates beside the terminal.-Airlines and destinations:...
. The three women and the pilot onboard survived. The plane was in a holding pattern over the airport and waiting for low clouds to lift. Pilot error is believed to be the cause as the pilot proceeded to land in the wrong direction on a one-way strip and over-ran the runway.
Airlink suffered two fatal crashes in 1999, when an Islander crashed near Hoskins in West New Britten Province, killing all aboard, and a couple of months later when an Embraer EMB-110-P1 Bandeirante flew into terrain on the Eastern approach to Goroka (again, pilot error).
Shutdown
Airlink ceased operations on 27 July 2007 as a result of "business difficulties". It had 200 employees. The airline's operating licence had only been re-issued a few days earlier, after a period of suspension following two serious accidents in May. One plane had crashed in West New BritainWest New Britain
West New Britain is a province of Papua New Guinea on the islands of New Britain. The provincial capital is Kimbe. The area of the province in 21,000 km², and there are 184,508 inhabitants . West New Britain produces palm oil for export...
while a second had crashed on landing in Goroka
Goroka
Goroka is the capital of the Eastern Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea. It is a town of approximately 19,000 people , 1600m above sea level. It has an airport and is on the "Highlands Highway", about 285 km from Lae in Morobe province and 90 km from the nearby town of Kainantu also...
.
The loss of the airline was described as "sad and disappointing" by outgoing Madang Governor Sir Peter Barter
Peter Barter
Sir Peter Leslie Charles Barter, GCL, OBE was Minister for Health and Bougainville Affairs in the Papua New Guinean Government and is active in the reconciliation movement in Bougainville. He established the Melanesian Foundation in 1980, a not-for-profit organisation that invests in remote...
, who said that the closure would affect the transport of people and cargo, including vital medical supplies.
Services
Airlink operated services to the following domestic scheduled destinations (at January 2005): BiallaBialla
Bialla may refer to :* Biała Piska, a town in Poland* Bialla, a Papua New Guinean town where Airlink operates...
, Buka, Cape Orford, Gasmata
Gasmata
Gasmata is a village on the southern coast of New Britain, Papua New Guinea located at 6° 16' 60S 150° 19' 60E. It is serviced by Gasmata Airport.The Imperial Japanese occupied the village between 8–9 February 1942 during World War II...
, Gonalia, Goroka
Goroka
Goroka is the capital of the Eastern Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea. It is a town of approximately 19,000 people , 1600m above sea level. It has an airport and is on the "Highlands Highway", about 285 km from Lae in Morobe province and 90 km from the nearby town of Kainantu also...
, Hoskins, Jacquinot Bay
Jacquinot Bay
Jacquinot Bay is a bay in East New Britain Province, southeastern New Britain, Papua New Guinea, at . It is near the mountain where twenty-eight people died in a plane crash in November, 1945....
, Kandrian
Kandrian
Kandrian is the headquarters of Kandrian-Gloucester District, West New Britain Province, Papua New Guinea....
, Kavieng
Kavieng
Kavieng is the capital of the Papua New Guinean province of New Ireland and the largest town on the island of the same name. The town is located at Balgai Bay, on the northern tip of the island. As of 2000, it had a population of 10,600....
, Kiunga, Lae
Lae
Lae, the capital of Morobe Province, is the second-largest city in Papua New Guinea. It is located at the start of the Highlands Highway which is the main land transport corridor from the Highlands region to the coast...
, Lihir Island
Lihir Island
Lihir Island is the largest island in the Lihir group of islands, 22 km long and 14.5 km wide, in Papua New Guinea's New Ireland Province. It consists of a complex of several overlapping basaltic stratovolcanoes rising 700m above sea level. While the volcanoes are not currently active,...
, Madang
Madang
Madang is the capital of Madang Province and is a town with a population of 27,420 on the north coast of Papua New Guinea. It was first settled by the Germans in the 19th century....
, Mount Hagen
Mount Hagen
Mount Hagen is third largest city in Papua New Guinea. It is the capital of the Western Highlands Province and is located in the large fertile Wahgi Valley in central mainland Papua New Guinea, at an elevation of ....
, Namatanai
Namatanai
Namatanai is a town on the island province of New Ireland in Papua New Guinea. It is the second largest settlement on the island and connected to the largest and provincial capital of Kavieng by the Boluminski Highway. In 2005, Namantanai was estimated to have a population of 1300 people.During...
, Nissan Island
Nissan Island
Nissan Island is the largest of the Green Islands of Papua New Guinea. It is located at , about 200 km east of Rabaul on New Britain and about 200 km northwest of Bougainville....
, Port Moresby
Port Moresby
Port Moresby , or Pot Mosbi in Tok Pisin, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea . It is located on the shores of the Gulf of Papua, on the southeastern coast of the island of New Guinea, which made it a prime objective for conquest by the Imperial Japanese forces during 1942–43...
, Rabaul
Rabaul
Rabaul is a township in East New Britain province, Papua New Guinea. The town was the provincial capital and most important settlement in the province until it was destroyed in 1994 by falling ash of a volcanic eruption. During the eruption, ash was sent thousands of metres into the air and the...
, Tabubil, Tadji
Tadji
Tadji may refer to:*Tadji, Iraq, town in Iraq*Tadji, Papua New Guinea, town in Papua New Guinea...
, Talasea, Tari
Tari
Tari might refer to:*Tari, Papua New Guinea, a Town in the Southern Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea, home to the world famous Huli...
, Vanimo
Vanimo
Vanimo is the capital of Sandaun Province in Papua New Guinea. It is located on a peninsula close to the border with Indonesia.Vanimo is a small township with an economy based around the timber industry. Logging company Vanimo Forest Products, which is owned by Malaysian company Rimbunan Hijau, is...
and Wewak
Wewak
Wewak is the capital of the East Sepik province of Papua New Guinea. It is located on the northern coast of the island of New Guinea. It is the largest town between Madang and Jayapura. It is the see city of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wewak....
.
Fleet
The Airlink fleet consisted of the following aircraft (at March 2007):- 1 ATR-42-320ATR 42-Civil operators:The largest operators of the ATR-42 are FedEx Express, Airlinair, TRIP Linhas Aéreas,and Mexico City-based Aeromar respectively. Number of aircraft as of 2010:Some 70 other airlines operate smaller numbers of the type....
- 3 Britten-Norman BN-2A IslanderBritten-Norman IslanderThe Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander is a 1960s British light utility aircraft, regional airliner and cargo aircraft designed and originally manufactured by Britten-Norman of the United Kingdom. The Islander is one of the best-selling commercial aircraft types produced in Europe. Although designed in...
- 6 Embraer EMB-110-P1 BandeiranteEmbraer EMB 110 BandeiranteThe Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante is a general purpose 15-21 passenger twin-turboprop light transport aircraft suitable for military and civil duties...
Previously operated
At January 2005 the airline also operated :- Cessna 402
- DHC6 - Twin Otter