TEU-CHT charters

The third and final 2016 Chatham Islands tour group arrives on the tarmac at Inia William Tuuta Memorial Airport on Saturday morning, having flown direct from Te Anau Airport Manapouri. The last of three independent charter tours of the Chatham Islands returned home to Manapouri on Tuesday, and bookings for next summer are already coming in.  Te Anau aviation enthusiast Merv Halliday has toured about 240 people from Te Anau Airport Manapouri direct to the Chathams since 2014, including 121 people over the past two weeks. The travellers hailed from all over Southland and Otago, and from as far afield as Haast, Blenheim, and Picton, Mr Halliday said. For the Chatham Islands, these tours were bigger than any other. “When I arrived with the first 40, there was a big fuss about it being the biggest ever,” Mr Halliday said. The four-day tour was an opportunity to explore the unique landscapes, history, and industry of the islands, 680km from mainland New Zealand. Word of mouth had packed the tours to capacity, and it was already looking likely that they would run again in January 2017, he said. “There were people ringing my home last night, who had been talking to people who came off the last flight, wanting to book to come on the next one.”

Source : Fiordland Advocate, 21 January 2016