Due to the damages caused to the airport runway at the Madang Airport from the 6.7 magnitude earthquake that rocked the province and its neighboring provinces over the weekend, airline services into Madang will be limited. For the national flag carrier Air Niugini, it has now temporarily downgraded its services to Madang to Dash 8 operations due to damage caused to part of the runway by the earthquake on Saturday October 7th. The airport authority, the National Airports Corporation (NAC) is currently working on a plan to fix the damages caused to the runway. Similarly, all Fokker and Boeing 737 flights to Mount Hagen have been downgraded to Dash8 aircraft due to maintenance works on the runway at Kagamuga airport. The airport runway is shortened to allow NAC to carry out maintenance and repair works on the runway. Air Niugini management will advise when jet operations into both Madang and Mt Hagen will resume. Air Niugini regrets the inconvenience caused to its customers, however the situation is beyond the airline’s control. Safety is always of paramount importance in the airline’s operations.