Sounds Air Flight 412 Skirting the Storm to Paraparaumu

The day after the storm that lashed Wellington I flew on Sounds Air from Blenheim to Paraparaumu and on to Nelson having earlier taken advantage of a Sounds Air special air fares deal. 

Sounds Air is perhaps more well known for its Cook Strait flights from Picton, Blenheim and Nelson to and from Wellington but it has been operating Cook Strait flights from Paraparaumu since 2015.  On the 26th of January 2015 a new Blenheim-Paraparaumu service was offered in competition with air2there. Three flights a day, each weekday were scheduled with a return flight on Sundays. On the 15th of June 2015 Sounds Air introduced Paraparaumu-Nelson services. Two return flights a day were operated on weekdays and one on Sundays. At the same time the Paraparaumu-Blenheim service changed to the same frequencies, the traffic not building as expected. 

Today Sounds Air operates the routes 4 times a week, flying Blenheim-Paraparaumu-Nelson and return on Sunday afternoons and Monday mornings and both Friday mornings and afternoons.

My ride to Paraparaumu and Nelson, Sounds Air's Pilatus PC-12 having done a couple of Wellington flights arriving back into Blenheim's Woodbourne airport

Sister ship ZK-PLZ was being readied for Sounds Air's late afternoon service to Christchurch

Too close to the Woodbourne terminal for a decent photo

After having a bird strike ZK-NEU was waiting engineers to give it a clearance

Giving way to a RNZAF Texan

Back tracking 06 at Woodbourne

And lining up on 06

Marlborough vineyards turning colours

ZK-PLB's front office

Blenheim

Cloudy Bay and Big Lagoon

Big Lagoon

The Marlborough Sounds looking very calm

Looking out to Cook Strait

Pilot Caleb - in the cruise at 7000 feet

The bottom of the North Island and a very choppy Cook Strait 

Into the murk on descent into Paraparaumu

 Breaking out for the approach into Paraparaumu for Runway 16

Kapiti Island

Runway in sight... though my phone wanted to focus on the rain on the windows

Not the most beautiful terminal in New Zealand - Kapiti Coast Airport, Paraparaumu

As the passengers disembarked it was clear people like the PC12 and Caleb was known and liked as they thanked him for such a smooth ride.