Brisbane to Madang - best airline

[sanne]

I’m looking at an expeditionary cruise that starts in Madang.

Can anyone give me advise on best airline to get there from Brisbane. From my search it seems that every flight stops in Port Moresby and those flights are Air Niugini. Not sure I feel comfortable about this airline. Am I concerned for no reason?

Thanks for any help.

 

[Tawita]

There are no international flights to Madang (MAG), so you will have no choice but to transit through Port Moresby (POM). Air Niugini (PX) flies daily BNE-POM, as does Qantas. Virgin has 5 flights per week. I have flown on PX numerous times on that sector without concern, but you do have other options.

For POM-MAG you have 2 choices - Air Niugini or PNG Air (CG). PX flies twice daily using their Fokker F100 aircraft (although I note that they will be switching to a Dash 8 for February/March). CG flies once a day (via Lae) using their ATR-72. Having flown often with both airlines my preference would be for the CG ATR-72.

 

[tgh]

I recently flew Bne >Pom>Wwk.
I chose Air Niugini and it was a perfectly normal airline.
Bne>Pom in an old but spotlessly clean aircraft with good service.
I chose to stay at the Hilton overnight as it has a reliable airport shuttle.
Next morning flight to wwk was a newish F100 , crowded down the back but quite nice up the front….
Many of our fears and foibles about png are of our own making I suspect.

 

[sanne]

Thank you Tawita and tgh for your replies. That’s made me feel more confident about those flights.