Qantas Freight today announced it will introduce a weekly freight service between Australia and Papua New Guinea commencing 6 July 2013.
The flight between Cairns, Brisbane and Port Moresby will be operated by a Boeing 737-300F aircraft, offering 15 tonnes of cargo capacity each way.
Qantas Freight Executive Manager Lisa Brock said the export market between Australia and Papua New Guinea was strong and our new dedicated freighter service would provide much needed capacity on the route.
“This is a popular freight route with increasing volumes of freight in both directions, particularly for seafood, general cargo, mining equipment and machinery,” said Ms Brock.
“Our new service provides greater flexibility for our customers and the B737-300 aircraft allows us to carry oversize freight on the main deck.”
The B737-300F will come from Qantas Freight’s existing fleet with additional flying time made possible through schedule enhancements. It adds to a network of dedicated freighter operations between Australia, mainland China, Hong Kong, the USA and New Zealand.
Qantas currently offers cargo services on Air Niugini’s daily service between Brisbane and Port Moresby.
The freighter service will operate each Saturday on the following schedule (listed in local times):
| ARRIVE | DEPART | |
| CAIRNS | 0830 | |
| BRISBANE | 1030 | 1215 |
| PORT MORESBY | 1515 | 1700 |
| CAIRNS | 1815 |
Qantas Freight has a fleet of 13 freighter aircraft including three B747-400F aircraft, one B767-300F aircraft, four B737-300CF aircraft, four BaE146 type aircraft and one SAAB 340. Qantas Freight also carries freight on Qantas and Jetstar domestic and international passenger services.
In April, Qantas announced plans to lease a new B747-400ERF freighter aircraft for its global freight business.