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| It was a gloomy day in Wellington on 18 November 2015 for my Originair flight to Nelson |
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| Originair BAe Jetstream 31 ZK-JSH arriving into gate 20 at Wellington Airport |
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| The beautifully presented cabin of ZK-JSH... it even smells new |
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| The inflight snack to the left - a bottle of water and jet planes - beautifully presented |
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| Departing over Lyall Bay and passing Island Bay. The brightest thing to see was the engine cowls |
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| All we got to see until well into the let down |
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| A number nicer day in Nelson, looking over Tasman Bay... |
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| ...the Waimea Plains... |
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| ...and Richmond |
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| Safely in Nelson |
All in all I thought Originair was pretty good... The one observation I think they need to look to was their seat allocation. A mother with a 4 or 5 year old sitting across the aisle from each other... So Mum and a larger man sitting in the double seat while the little one sat in the single seat. Thankfully they saw sense and the man and child swapped! I thought the water and jet planes were a very good touch! As for me I got an aisle seat with only 5 other passengers on the plane... So I slid into the window seat as well!
5 passengers isn't paying. That's the truth
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, I think NSN - WLG is just the wrong route for Origin. Especially with JQ coming into the play soon. I wonder whether NSN - CHC would be a better fit, or even think outside the square and move outside of NSN. Looks like a cool airline to fly with
ReplyDeleteHopefully Nelson to Christchurch is the new route that they have been hinting at.
DeleteI wonder if a 'Paraparaumu - Nelson - Christchurch' and/or 'Wanganui - Nelson - Christchurch' route could work.
Also, it seems as if Palmerston North might become a secondary hub, since it is the main hub of Fieldair Engineering and a secondary hub of Air Freight.
I think it's Time OriginAir Dropped NSN-WLG. to much competition in that route.
ReplyDeleteNSN-CHC
NSN-NPE
NSN-TRG just a few
IVC-NSN fishing boat link has been mentioned on a twice a week service. Invers has been talking to 3rd Level operators more so since Jetstar flipped them the bird. Hamilton and Tauranga is also in their sights as a better connection to Nelson...and probably more reliable.
ReplyDeleteKiwi is already flying NSN-HLZ
DeleteI think Origin and Sounds Air could form some sort of partnership. Origin could do peak hour flights with the J31 and Sounds Air could do off peak with PC12s or C208s. WLG-NPE, CHC-NSN and WLG-TRG could all work for them. Not too sure about any new services ex-PMR
ReplyDeleteRumours of J41's making a return are going around.
ReplyDeletewhen is some newer kit going to be used in this country instead of this old junk
DeleteThe only comparable aircraft to the J41 still being produced is the ATR 42, the EMB 120 Brasilia (on request), the Antonov An-140, the CASA CN-235 and the Xian MA60.
DeleteThe Sukhoi Su-80, Ilyushin Il-114-300 and the Dornier 328 are supposedly going back into production.
The Dash-8 Q300, Dash-7 100, Fokker 50, Saab 340, Antonov An-24 and the Hawker Siddeley HS 748 (aka BAe ATP) are all out of production.
The reality is that regional jets are back in fashion again and if Originair ever gets to that stage in the future, then they would probably go with the BAe 146 over another aircraft which is new to NZ.
Origin Mk 2?
DeleteA rather large difference between the Hawker Siddeley HS 748, and the BAe ATP. 60's vs 80's
Steady on now, we are on to BAe146's not even a newer RJ?
I must be missing something.
The BAe ATP was a continuation of the HS 748. The HS 748 started production in 1961 and ended in 1988, the ATP started production in 1988 and the last one entered production in 1994 and was meant to be revised in the late 90's as the BAe Jetstream 61, but only one prototype was built before their merger with ATR.
DeleteStarting an airline off with brand new planes would add undue financial pressure on a new business. So would them using exotic aircraft, which would require them to invest considerably in the training of pilots and engineers.
This is what killed the failed airline "KiwiJet" before it even got off the ground, their choice of using the the exotic Embraer ERJ 145 in NZ on our short runways. They then changed their plan to use the BAe 146-100 since Ansett New Zealand had used 12 of them back in the 90's, but KiwiJet never got off the ground before the 2008/2009 global economic meltdown hit.
A 2007 press release by KiwiJet on the matter:
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU0709/S00196.htm