Plans by two airlines — one an Australian operator and the other based in Papua New Guinea — to commence services between the two countries will not have much effect on cargo uplift because of the equipment to be used.

Queensland Regional Airlines wants to operate a Dash 8-102 between Cairns and Port Moresby, using Australian seat allocations. Its application to the International Air Services Commission, filed in late June, does not envisage cargo earnings.

Airlines Papua New Guinea, which already flies Dash 8 aircraft between Port Moresby and Cairns, intends to introduce Boeing 737 operations between its Jacksons Airport, Port Moresby, base and Brisbane, commencing in late August. This will have limited belly-hold cargo capacity.

Airlines PNG is primarily a domestic carrier in its country of origin, serving a far-flung network.

Air Niugini and Qantas fly between the two countries, with some cargo capacity on flights operated by heavy equipment.

While burgeoning oil and other development in PNG, including enhanced management of fishery resources, is likely to drive up demand for cargo space over the next two years, the PNG freight market has long been difficult to estimate.

The only serious long-term player in freighter operations has been Heavylift Cargo Airlines which currently holds the only full-cargo capacity allocated by the IASC on PNG services.

In May, Pacific Air Express (Australia) applied to the IASC for revocation of a 2003 determination giving it 12.5 tonnes of capacity on the PNG route. Brisbane-based Pacific Air Express, which operates as "the cargo carrier of the Solomon Islands" and has a regular 727 freighter service between Brisbane and Honiara, had hopes of developing the PNG market.

This did not work out, despite several "extension of commencement and full utilisation" approvals from the IASC, and the commission was getting tetchy about the situation. A formal review had been scheduled for May 17 but Pacific Air Express got in a day ahead with its revocation request.

The IASC regulations state that if an Australian carrier asks the commission to revoke a determination, this must be done and so it was, with the official delegate — executive director Michael Bird — signing off on what had become something of a saga.

Earlier this year, Heavylift applied to the commission to reduce the amount of capacity allocated by determination 2005/114 on the PNG route from 60 to 40 tonnes weekly. The carrier also requested revocation of determination 2005/117, which allocated six tonnes of freight capacity on the route.

Reduction of capacity also does not require a call for submissions so both requests were granted.

The 60 tonnes allocation was awarded on an interim basis in late August 2003, while the six tonnes followed in December of that year. Both were renewed in November last year.