The Taupo District Council is to seek an air operator to provide services on the Taupo to Wellington route Air New Zealand will stop operating at the end of April. Consultation will also take place with the community over the importance of having flights to the capital and to gauge opinion over what support, if any, the council should give to secure a service. Mayor David Trewavas said that since Air New Zealand announced in November it was to cut services from Taupo to Wellington he had been approached by businesses, retailers and residents concerned about what the loss of the flights might mean for the district. "Promoting economic development the is a key component of our long-term strategy and as the leaders of the community we want to do whatever we can to ensure the rest of the world knows that our district is open for business," he said. "Our airport is a valuable part of what our district has to offer." Discussions had already taken place with a few potential operators with the aim of starting the service as soon as Air New Zealand pulled out of the route. However, this was not possible and with more interest now being shown, requesting proposals was the most open and transparent way to select a provider.
Source : Taupo Times
So what about Sounds Air with the second PC-12???
Hopefully Soundsair can do WLG-WAG-TUO and vice-versa with their C208 or direct with their new PC12. I Remember when Eagle Air used to stop over in Wanganui and continue on to Taupo.
ReplyDeleteTUO-WAG was to fill seats on empty planes out of both TUO and WAG - so it would never make a profit. Better to go direct with the PC-12
ReplyDeleteIf the Air NZ Link service had been that important to economic growth, the Taupo and Wellington would have traveled more. My experience has been there are those who must travel on that day and would have paid more. As Air NZ Link knows there are not enough of them and filling the seats with grabaseat fares doesn't earn a profit. If the council go down the path of subsidies it only benefits the leisure traveler. And tourism ranks 4th in the town for economic benefit...........
ReplyDelete