Barrier Air are to replace Air New Zealand services between Auckland and Hamilton. Air New Zealand's last flight will operate on the 8th of February 2016 and Barrier Air will commence operations on the route the following day.
The schedule will see flights offered each week as follows
Days From To Dep Arr
12345 HLZ-AKL 0700 0730
1 3 567 AKL-HLZ 1030 1100
1 3 567 HLZ-AKL 1130 1200
12345 7 AKL-HLZ 1800 1830
5 HLZ-AKL 1850 1920
Flights start at $82 per seat.
This is going to end awesomely
ReplyDeleteI totally applaud this move. However I think there are a few challenges they face. 1-their fleet is so diverse in liveries you couldn't tell if their caravan operates the same company as the BNI Trislander. 2-the name just doesn't suit. I see barrier air and get the impression that they operate flights to Great Barrier Island and then operate these other flights from Auckland because they could make some money and get their aircraft off the ground.
ReplyDeleteGo back to what made you money for 34 years. Tried and true
ReplyDeleteHow can you be sure it made money ?
DeleteIt still exists today. Bergman, Gerard and Roberts didn't do it for 30 years combined if they knew it didn't make money? Once common denominator - they all invested because why? Why does anyone invest? They have all been around since the 1980's
DeleteThe Barrier would definitely make money. Suppose Barrier Air Could make even more money if you can open up Great Barrier tourism by making it viable for Waikato residents to travel by air to GB. I applaud them for continuing to invest in their service and grow the business.
Delete3- the fleet Barrier Air operate all have signage on them, every aircraft. They don't operate trilanders for now almost 3 years. Informed
ReplyDeleteCheck your source. August '14 was last trislander run. Not even 2 years has passed. Also, welcome back to planet earth. Everyone else knew they were retired. I recall the post on this blog.
DeleteWithout the assurity of connecting to an onwards service at AKL, this is doomed to fail. You can count the number of people travelling solely between the two ports on one hand each month (excluding the Eagle staff which sometimes make up half the bloody passenger load!).
ReplyDeleteBut to be fair it's probably easier to fill a Caravan than a Beech, or even just make up a break even load...
DeleteWell unlike the pessimists on there I actually think this service could actually work, particularly since both populations are growing rapidly and there is growing need for connections. But, to attract the people the price has to be right. At $82 I think they're pretty close. The question is, how much do sunair charge to fly to north shore ? Competitive ?
ReplyDeleteI agree with the above commenter re livery. I think it's time for barrier air to pull finger out and sort out their brand / image if they want to be recognised at all, or be taken seriously as an airline.
Going off of the pictures on this blog havent they already repainted and branded 3 of their aircraft? Cant ground the whole fleet at once for a respray. Again just going off of the updates on 3rdlevel this company seems worlds apart from where it was over a year ago hahaha!
DeleteI was wondering if any airline would take up this route they have left it a bit late less than two weeks before it starts. What would be good if Barrier Air could interline with Air NZ so someone can book say a HLZ-AKL-LAX flight with one ticket.
ReplyDeleteThink I saw somewhere that Barrier Air tried for that when they took over Kaitaia but got turned down. Doubt AirNZ would interline with anyone they didnt have to.
DeleteAirNZ will never interline with a 3rd level operator (despite not officially saying so). LAX also isn't proberbly a good example because of the APP requirement when pax are accepted for US flights, but get your idea.
ReplyDeleteInteresting that the fares are cheaper than there core business, even though they are the same distance.
What does this mean for Kaitaia? They do not have many aircraft, which are already tied up with existing work. 1x BN2 1x P68 3xPA31 1x208
Interesting comments all around. I think Kaitaia is safe. Surely they would have announced withdrawing already if that was the plan? Rumor on the grapevine is that a second 208 isn't far away. It'll be interesting to see how they do on Hamilton - I hope it works for them!
ReplyDeleteBit late to chime in on this, but I'm a regular user of this route...and I just can't be arsed driving up to AKL. So it is a relief that Barrier has jumped in. The route works and a good timetable covering overseas flights at each end of the day...also the benefit of lining into Barrier's small network.
ReplyDeleteThe versatility of being able to have more domestic choice is a bonus. Pity they couldn't line in with Jetstar just to flip the bird at Air NZ.
Good on ya guys best of luck ! No harm in trying ae
ReplyDeleteI think Air NZ should never have started routes like this and also westport, kaitaia etc as they just weren't made for big airlines - they should've been 3rd level operations from day 1. I don't want to fault Air NZ-they have a good reputation and they're trying to cover all bases in terms of routes. I feel that because they're the national carrier they feel obliged to go to the regions and offer services. I really wish they would've just code shared with 3rd level operators and then we would've never had all this drama of having to find a new operator for regional routes. Had they done this the 3rd level operators would've benefited enormously and the reputation of Air NZ would've been outstanding. Now because of all this mess it gives me the idea that they're just a greedy business trying to make money-I don't want to think of them like that. I want to be proud of my national airline and I will stand by them but all im trying to say is there was a better way to do things and I hope they learn from it.
ReplyDeleteYou forget that Air NZs regional subsidiaries once were three separate 3rd level airlines, and those routes date from back then.
DeleteYeah true...poor old Eagle.
DeleteNo the routes were originally operated even further back than that with NAC as directed by the government. Once the rules changed in 1983 and the Air Services licensing board disbanded and that allowed other Airlines to begin operations and opening routes. NAC/Air NZ operated most of those routes with 15 F27's until the BIL boys gave the regional operation to Mot Air/Air Nelson.
DeleteA visit to Hamilton from Barrier Air Caravan today. Clearly route proving.
ReplyDeleteBarrier Air needs to get its act together. First of all their website is a mess. On 1 Feb they commenced twice daily returns between North Shore and AKL International but try finding that on their illustrated destination page. The only way to get an inkling about those flights is to go to their Fares page. But it gets worse!
ReplyDeleteLearning of those flights through information contained in this blog a few weeks ago, I recommended a Danish friend arriving at 1700 on 4 Feb make a booking on their 1820 flight to North Shore. So he did. But when he arrived at the Barrier Air counter the staff had no idea there was an 1820 flight to North Shore. When they found it told they him him he was the first passenger they had had. He was the only passenger on the Embraer 820C. If they are not going to make it easy for the public to find their flight information,some of their services will not survive.