Baibara Airport

While no single official reason is documented, the closure of Baibara Airport is consistent with the widespread abandonment of hundreds of rural airstrips across Papua New Guinea. The primary causes were economic and logistical, including: a lack of funding for essential maintenance after PNG's independence in 1975; the high cost of aviation fuel and aircraft upkeep making services economically unviable for small, isolated communities; and the reduction of government patrol and Christian mission services, which were often the primary operators and maintainers of such remote airfields. There is no evidence to suggest it was closed due to a specific accident or for military conversion.

The airport is completely abandoned and has been reclaimed by the surrounding tropical environment. The former grass runway, approximately 900 meters long, is now entirely overgrown with dense vegetation, including mature shrubs and trees. There is no remaining aviation infrastructure on the site, which is now indistinguishable from the adjacent bushland. The site is completely unusable for any aviation purposes.

Baibara Airport served as a vital lifeline for the remote communities around Nabai in Milne Bay Province. It was part of an extensive network of rural airstrips that provided the only reliable access to much of PNG's rugged interior. Operations would have exclusively involved light, Short Take-Off and Landing (STOL) aircraft, such as the Cessna 206 or Britten-Norman Islander. These aircraft transported essential cargo like medicine, food, and mail, and provided critical services including medical evacuations and transportation for government officers, missionaries, and local residents to and from provincial centers like Alotau.

There are no known plans or prospects for the reopening of Baibara Airport. The significant cost required to clear the extensive vegetation, regrade the runway surface, and install basic safety infrastructure is a major barrier. Given the small size of the local population and the lack of significant economic drivers (such as mining, large-scale agriculture, or tourism) in the immediate area, there is currently no economic justification for its rehabilitation. The airstrip is not listed as a current or future project by Papua New Guinea's Rural Airstrip Agency (RAA), which is responsible for restoring such facilities. Therefore, the prospect of it reopening is extremely low.