MAF – flying where no one else will fly

I’m still getting my head around how big MAF are – but knew something about them through family friends. Long time friends of the family have been in PNG forever, and are up in Mt Hagen at the moment as Managing Director (or something) for PNG of this flying organization.

However I’ve already lost count of the flights we’ve (Anglicans) put through them. And starting to lose count of the people who have said “we’d be stuffed without them…”

I did have one little story told to me of how it’s getting harder for the pilots – as when they have their leave, they need to go and speak to more and more churches to raise money in Australia/otherwise. Jeez – tough thing for your holidays.

This little article came through the other day-:

MAF Airfares Subsidised

The Western Province gas announced that they have allocated K500,000 towards subsidising airfares on the Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) airline service. This is to help the people who have to use remote airstrips no longer used by commercial airlines. Often the only other means of travel in the province were by walking along the waterways or by dinghies that were usually time-consuming when there was a matter of urgency. The airline services all the remote and central routes in the province including covering connections to Port Moresby and Mt. Hagen. MAF has had a long-standing commitment to servicing the remote areas of PNG but even they have to charge a realistic fare to recover operating costs.

Looking forward to getting to Hagen and saying hello!