Salt Air flies its last Kerikeri-Whangarei-Auckland air service today. The company started the
service in 2008 for business commuters and for tourists to the Bay of Islands and Cape Reinga using Cessna 208B Grand Caravan ZK-MJL and Gippsland Airvan ZK-MAB. Passengers were transported between Noth Shore Airport and the Auckland CBD by shuttle bus using the North Shore busway. In announcing the sale of the service to North Sbore-based Flight Hauraki chief executive Grant Harnish told the Northern Advocate that "he now wants
to streamline the operation and concentrate on the tourism-based services. The
scheduled services only generate only about 20 per cent of our operational
income but take 80 per cent of our time to run. It's been a very
successful concept and certainly put us on the map but it's the right time for
someone else to pick it up and run with it. "We are a very small company
and we don't have the ability to run a base in Auckland which is really needed
to take the market to the next stage."
Flight Hauraki takes over the service tomorrow.
An updated profile of Salt Air can be found at http://3rdlevelnz.blogspot.co.nz/2010/04/salt-air-xpress-service-to-northland.html
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| Cessna Grand Caravan ZK-MJL taken at North Shore on 26 September 2008. Photo : S Lowe |
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| I flew on both the Salt Air aircraft - this from the Caravan |
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| The Gippsland Airvan arriving at North Shore on 23 October 2012. Photo : S Lowe |
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