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 2023, our aircraft flew 5,719 hours in total. This means almost 240 days of continuous (24/7) flying!
  • in 2023, our aircraft flew 9,919 flight legs, which means 9,919 safe take-offs and landings. 
  • in 2023, our aircraft carried 35,252 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 2023, our aircraft carried 1,609 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 2023, our aircraft flew a total of 1,138,341 km (614,654 nm). That’s more than 28 times around the globe.
  • in 2023, 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.
  • in 2023, 142 dedicated staff members ran MAF PNG, 109 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 2023, MAF PNG teamed up with 70 partner organisations.
  • in 2023, our aircraft landed on 185 different airstrips. This means we'd rank at about number 12 on a worldwide statistic led by American Airlines (AA), United Airlines (UA), and Turkish Airlines (TK) und would just rank before British Airways with 183 destinations.
  • in 2023, we flew 90 medical evacuation flights, counting only those we specifically launched to respond to an emergency. But there were many critically ill patients airlifted to received professional medical care to safe their lives.
  • in 2022, our pilots sold more than 600 Bibles, and about 50 Biblical handbooks. Shortly after mid-year, our stock was almost depleted and only at the beginning of 2023 we got new resources to stock up the pilots' bible boxes again. The hunger for God's Word is immense out there and so is the impact of the believers.