PX set to lose its safety record
FOR every step, a sacrifice. And so it is for Air Niugini. The optimist among us would of course say, for every step, a gain. Whether or not the proposed merger of the national airline with Airlines PNG is a step forward or back or whether there are gains or losses only time will tell but immediately there will be one substantial sacrifice. It is a sacrifice that has nothing to do with the bottom line, which seems to dictate all corporate decisions, but it is one that has endeared the traveller to this airline: safety, the airline traveller’s bottom line. If the national flag carrier is merged with Airlines PNG, gone will be its reputation as the safest airline in the world to fly in. Through half a dozen governments, ever shifting boards and management since 1973, Air Niugini has doggedly nurtured that reputation. At the lowest point in its existence that reputation has never been sacrificed. And now, with one fell sweep, without losing an aircraft or a single life in a flying accide