MAF in Papua New Guinea

Since 1951, MAF’s operations in Papua New Guinea has provided essential air transport to isolated communities located in some of the most rugged terrains in the world. PNG’s unique topography and poor infrastructure mean that for hundreds of villages in the catchment area of an airstrip, MAF provides essential and viable access to the outside world and the help and hope needed by many people in bush communities.

Did you know that...

  • in 2024, our aircraft flew 5,155 hours in total. This means almost 240 days of continuous (24/7) flying!
  • in 2024, our aircraft flew 9,063 flight legs, which means 9,063 safe take-offs and landings.
  • in 2024, our aircraft carried 31,157 passengers, e.g. pastors and missionaries, health and community workers, teachers and students, and just ordinary citizens, to overcome the mountainous and swampy terrain of PNG.
  • in 2024, our aircraft carried 1,587 tonnes of cargo, e.g. hundreds of plywood or roofing iron sheets and other construction materials, exercise books and medicine, food, and soap, to only name a few. And then you still need to add the passengers' cargo allowance to that number!
  • in 2024, our aircraft flew a total of 1,041,813 km (562,533 nm). That’s about 26 times around the globe.
  • in 2024, the MAF PNG fleet consisted of ten Cessna Caravan C208, which means we continue to operate a single-type fleet compared to all the years before 2019 when we operated different types of aircraft. The latest addition was an amphibious Cessna C208 later in the year to serve the lake and water way communities in Western Province.
  • in 2024, 164 dedicated staff members ran MAF PNG, 131 of them being Papua New Guineans and 33 being from other countries than PNG and raise their own support to be part of MAF PNG.
  • in 2024, MAF PNG teamed up with 96 partner organisations, 26 more than the previous year.
  • in 2024, our aircraft landed on 206 different airstrips. This means we'd rank at about number 11 on a worldwide statistic led by three American Airlines and would just rank before Air China with 203 destinations.
  • in 2024, we flew 127 medical evacuation flights, counting only those we specifically launched to respond to an emergency. But many more critically ill patients were airlifted to receive professional medical care to save their lives as planes were diverted during the day's scheduled flights.