Prime Minister O'Neill opens Aropa Airport

Prime Minister Hon. Peter O’Neill has officially opened the once defunct Aropa International Airport. During a visit to the region in January this year, Prime Minister Hon. Peter O’Neill promised the people of Bougainville that the airport would be reopened for use as soon as practicable.
A total of K19 million was allocated for the exercise, and after three months of work, the airport is now ready for use. It was closed 25 years ago as a result of the Bougainville Crisis in 1989.
The airport, situated on the main island, is a significant infrastructure and its official re-launching will transform the pace of change in the economic development of the autonomous island province. Officials from the Civil Aviation Authority and Works and Transport departments, who will be accompanying Prime Minister Hon. Peter O’Neill on this milestone visit, were directed to get to work on a working program to redevelop the airport in a short space of time.
The result of their hard work and tireless efforts will go down in the history books of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville. An Air Niugini Q400 did a test landing and take-off on the runway, and it proved successful to the satisfaction of CAA officials.
Prime Minister Hon. Peter O’Neill led a big delegation from Port Moresby to Aropa . He  joined on the ground for the opening ceremony by Bougainville President John Momis, Communication Minister and Member for Central Bougainville Jimmy Miringtoro and other leaders from the region.
The local people  performd a traditional ritual to thank and honour the Prime Minister, who became the first sitting Prime Minister to visit Panguna, rebel leader Francis Ona’s stronghold and the epicentre of the crisis. For now, the Aropa airport will only take in aircrafts the size of Dash 8 and Q400 or smaller. It cannot take in F100 or bigger aircrafts until more work is done on the runway.
The airport saw the last Air Niugini flight out of Aropa International Airport in September 1989 when the Bougainville Conflict began. The Crisis was an armed conflict fought between Papua New Guinea and the Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA), who were fighting for independence.