Is it easy to fly local in PNG?

Hello all. The posts here are a great help to me as I'm starting a 12 month RTW trip in August 2010 and will be going to PNG in late January 2011. Only thing is I havn't decided what to do/how much time to spend there yet.

After reading through the LP guidebook and seeing the prices of the trekking (not to mention tour company online itineries for the treks) I've decided that I will probably return to PNG on a separate trip in the future with pure trekking in mind. Do the Kokoda and Highlands etc.

So now I'm left with 'what to do after landing in Port Moresby?' The Alotau option sounds great, do you have to fly? There seems to be no PMV routes in the guidebook.

If so, my main question if anyone can answer is this...when landing in Port Moresby, is it relatively easy to book a local return flight to Alotau in terms of availability? I can book with STA from here, but would rather pay local prices than another £250 internal flight! And would 1 week be enough there?

Any answers would be great.

Thanks, Nathan

no pmv connections to alotau from pom/both air new guinea and airlines png fly to gurney(alotau)and you can purchase tix from inside the domestic terminal,but it can be a long wait depending on what time of year,depending on your arrival time you will probably have to overnite in moresby(expensive)
you may want to connect from gurney out to the trobriand islands(airlines png)the airport is at the town of losuia.1 week is fine to do this trip.

Have you considered that late January is wet season, and may not be ideal for trekking?

Thanks guys. I've now been reading about the trobriand islands and losuia, sounds amazing!

As I said, I'll return in the future for trekking, and not in the wet season! Great point.

I'll arrive in Port Moresby with a week to play with and see whether I can get to Alotau or trobriand islands, whichever easiest.

Thanks again, Nathan

I was just in PNG recently and did a domestic flight. We had reservations but it seemed most people treated flying like a bus with the exception you needed to show up at least 2 hrs ahead of time.

At POM there were ques of people forming outside the terminal for various flights. Periodically the guards would let a group in to purchase tickets. In a word , it was mayhem. But the chaos is all part of travelling in PNG.

Have you considered contacting MSF, aka Doctors Without Borders ? One person in our group had arrangements with them to get on one of their flights. Apparently they will take you along with some restrictions.

Check out www.apng.com Airlines PNG has some really cheap seats on every flight from Cairns or Brisbane to Port Moresby and from there to Alotau. You need to book early as there are only a few on each flight but they are cheap. Plenty of trekking opportunities in Alotau and out on the islands. You can use local boats. June to September the seas can be rough. January is perfect but you may find it difficult to get on a plane at short notice as it is holiday time and once the school kids go back at the end of January, the planes are chockers. Tyere are boats between Moresby and Alotau and Lae but so unreliable and likely to change at the last minute. Gretta