By Orchy Rex
Today marked a historic moment for the Papua New Guinea Defence Force (PNGDF) as the engines of the long-idle CASA 235 aircraft were started successfully for the first time in eight years, under the CASA Recovery Program at the Air Transport Wing (ATW) in Port Moresby.
The CASA 235, which broke down in 2017, is now undergoing phase one of its recovery, currently at 85 to 90 percent completion. Once complete, the aircraft will be flown to Indonesia for a full overhaul and service as part of phase two.
Defence Minister Dr. Billy Joseph described the milestone as a crucial step towards restoring the country’s sovereign air capability.
“It is not the end of the road, but we have a plan, and we have stuck to that plan, and we have a budget also and that is the path that we are on,”
“It is very, very important and critical for a big country like Papua New Guinea to have its own sovereign air capability,” Dr. Joseph said. “This has been missing for a long time.”
The Minister commended the leadership and tireless efforts of the ATW team, as well as the Chief of the Defence Force (CDF) and the Defence Secretary.
“I would like to thank the leadership of the Air Transport Wing from the director down to the CEO and all our people, the maintenance crew team but not forgetting the leadership of the CDF and the secretary who have worked tirelessly to make sure that we have come to this stage,” he stated.
“The Marape-Rosso government of which I am minister of is very, very committed to building PNGDF capability and we are focused on building our own air capability,” Dr. Joseph emphasized.
The Minister acknowledged international partners and thanked the Australian government for the Flight of Excellence program which gifted PNG three PEC 750 XL aircraft, but he said the goal now is to move forward.
“Now we want to graduate from that single engine aircraft to a twin engine aircraft, which is what CASA 235 is all about,” he said, adding that plans are underway to purchase a larger platform, the CASA 295.
“After phase two is complete, we have an announcement. We have another CASA 235 that is also down. And we have a plan to get the Indonesian companies to come in with the support of the Indonesian government to also make that CASA 235 also a phase one,” he explained.