Sunair are withdrawing from Napier after offering an air service to the Hawkes Bay for 19 years. The most regular feature of Sunair's service to Napier in recent time was the contract it held to carry bank data material from Napier to Hamilton on a dedicated courier flight. This ended on the 22nd of May 2015. In addition to this Sunair offered passenger flights to Gisborne, Rotorua, Tauranga and Hamilton. It would seem there has not been a demand for passenger flights to and from Napier and Sunair's timetable number 53, which is effective from the 5th of October, shows no service to the Bay city.
Another change in the timetable is the dropping of flights between Whangarei and Great Barrier Island
Sunair is progressively pulling out and losing routes. What do you think the future is for them Steve?
ReplyDeleteNo, I wouldn't say Sunair are progressively pulling out and losing routes... rather if there is no traffic they don't fly. That is the case for all routes. If there is consistently no traffic they are dropped but maybe reinstated. Hamilton-New Plymouth is an example of an on and off route. I think it will be interesting to see what happens when Auckland-Hamilton goes. Then the only way to fly Napier to Hamilton will be via Wellington. There could be some demand for that IF, notice big IF, the fare is right. Sunair traditionally charge big fares so they can make money even if only a couple of people are flying. Doing that won't stimulate traffic but they won't lose money. They often fly out of Gisborne to Rotorua, Hamilton and Tauranga.
DeleteThat now explains where Jetstar will put their check in counter in NPE
ReplyDeleteSweet
Delete