Air Niugini’s award-winning inflight magazine, Paradise, will finally return to Air Niugini flights in September, after a hiatus of more than two years caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Production of the magazine, which is placed on board Air Niugini flights, was suspended in April 2020.
‘Paradise has a special place in PNG culture. Since its earliest days, just after PNG’s Independence, it has been a window through which visitors to our country have discovered and explored PNG, and Papua New Guineans have learned about their own country,’ says Air Niugini’s Chief Executive Officer, Bruce Alabaster.
‘Paradise’s return is a great sign that international and domestic travel in PNG is well and truly back after two challenging years.
‘Our passenger numbers are already higher than the pre-COVID levels of 2019, and we expect them to grow further as PNG increasingly gets back to business.’
Paradise, first published in 1976, is Papua New Guinea’s longest-established and most widely-read magazine. As well as featuring travel destinations that Air Niugini flies to, the magazine publishes articles about PNG culture, nature, events, people and business.
In 2020, it beat the inflight magazines of Qantas, Virgin and Fiji Airways to be voted Oceania’s Leading Inflight Magazine in the 2020 World Travel Awards.
The responsibility for re-launching Paradise has been given to publisher Business Advantage International (BAI), which previously published the magazine between 2014 and 2020.
‘Publishing Paradise is both a privilege and a responsibility,’ says Andrew Wilkins, BAI’s Publishing Director at BAI. ‘It’s a unique magazine with a unique history.’
Paradise’s return will be commemorated with a special ‘Welcome Back’ edition, which will appear in-seat on Air Niugini flights from 1 September. A special re-launch event is also planned for September.