Fleet Reduction follows Route Reduction

Sounds Air is looking to sell an aeroplane after giving up on Government assistance. The regional airline said it had been asked to apply for various government funds but were then declined, resulting in it dropping its Wellington-Taupō and Wellington-Westport services at the end of last year. Chief executive Andrew Crawford told Stuff Travel it was a tough time. “We're looking at selling an aeroplane and we're consolidating on the routes we've got and trying to offer more capacity and do it well. “We're happy with selling one at the moment because we've got rid of two routes so that freed up some aircraft capacity. “But once they're gone, they're gone. It's hard to get them back in again.” Sounds Air, which flies to and from Wellington 85 times a week, was seeing the impact of lessening business and government travel from the capital. “It's a challenging industry for everyone, but it's not just aviation. A lot of businesses in New Zealand are suffering, suffering hard, but [in] aviation we only deal with monopolies: airport companies, fuel companies, parts suppliers so it's very, very difficult to go out and negotiate cheaper prices. “The Civil Aviation Authority has just put their passenger service levy up 115%. Where are we going to get that money?” He said everything they buy is bought in US dollars, making business “diabolically expensive”. Crawford said there are “green shoots, but they’re very small.” “It is very, very difficult when you're flying nine and 12-seat aircraft around to make any money and when you've got all these pressures on the side that you have no control over it's even more difficult.” He said he was encouraged to apply for the Regional Infrastructure Fund and the Provincial Growth Fund by the Labour and National governments. “I mean, you can't get more regional infrastructure than a regional airline, but we were told that we didn't meet the criteria. “We didn't go to them and they came to us and said, you guys ... are right in the wheelhouse for the support but, by the time it comes to approval, you just get nothing. It's extremely frustrating,” Crawford said. The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment told Stuff Travel that Sounds Air’s application was not eligible because it was for debt refinancing rather the delivery of hard infrastructure projects, as per the eligibility criteria of the fund. Crawford said Sounds Air had offered numerous low-cost solutions to improve the state of regional air services but it “falls on deaf ears.” “We don't know why. Anyway, we've given up. I'm not dealing with the government any more. We'll just do our own thing.” Despite reducing its routes from nine to seven, Crawford said it had increased its capacity by 14% on last year. Unlike Air New Zealand, which was seeing a softening demand and in turn cut capacity on routes, Crawford said demand on Sounds Air’s routes was “quite strong.” “A lot of people are flying and they're paying a lot of money to do it, which is in some ways embarrassing, but it's largely been brought about by supply chain issues which have continued since Covid. “We've had planes grounded just like Air New Zealand has. “It's a nightmare for any airline to have aircraft on the ground and we've had the same problem in the last year with parts supplies, inventory you cannot get.” 

The full article can be found here : https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/360596265/weve-given-sounds-air-looks-sell-plane-after-suggestions-fall-deaf-ears