Air Niugini Appoints a First In New Executive Manager For Cargo

Each individual has a distinct career path and following passion is one of those important factors to helping individuals become more self-motivated and passionate about what they do.

Meet Ms. Paila Leka, a mother of one from Makerupu in the Central Province who has been recently appointed by Air Niugini as Executive Manager, Cargo Services.

Ms. Leka started work with Air Niugini twenty seven (27) years ago as a Cargo Officer and has been there since, covering all operational areas within the Cargo Department. She was Manager Standards & Administration prior to her recent appointment. She said her passion for the job and the eagerness to understand the cargo business has kept her going this long.

“ Helping customers to ensure their cargo safely reaches its destination anywhere in the world can be challenging but if you are passionate about what you do, you will always look for new ways, better processes and procedures to ensure all cargo either inbound or outbound reach their final destinations on time and that customers are happy.”

Ms. Leka’s new role now is to ensure all cargo operations are carried out safely and in compliance with cargo policies and procedures in the Cargo Manual, IATA, IOSA & CASA requirements. She also over-looks the overall operations of cargo to ensure better communication and procedures are followed to ensure cargo safely reach their final destination. It’s the first time, a woman has been appointed to this senior position in Air Niugini.

She said “Getting your hands dirty is what any woman can do and that is what our cargo business does. Iam happy to be part of a team that sweats and works smarter to ensure we deliver to the expectation of our customers. We may not be perfect but we try to improve our procedures and processes all the time.”

Ms. Leka acknowledged Air Niugini for the trust and confidence and the opportunity for a new and bigger role and who knows where this may lead to in the National Airline.

“Regardless of gender, it is important to understand where an employee’s strengths are and where the organization could help strengthen those areas to prepare staff for the next role. I am thankful to Air Niugini as Iam blessed with good leaders, mentors who have helped, guided me in pursuit of my career progression here at Air Niugini cargo.” Ms. Leka said

Air Niugini uplifts cargo out of the base in Port Moresby to 24 domestic ports and 12 international ports. Press release