Today Originair operated its final flight between Wellington and Westport. Jetstream 32 ZK-JSK operated flight OG621 inbound to Westport, and will shortly depart as flight OG622 back to Wellington.
Originair first started flying into Westport on the 3rd of January 2025, with the first flights, OG653 from Wellington to Westport and the return flight OG 654, operated in BAe Jetstream 32 ZK-JSK under command of Captain Sarah Twisleton and First Officer Jason Salo.
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| Originair's BAe Jetstream 32 ZK-JSK at a wet Westport on the first day of services to the Buller on 3 January 2025 |
It will be interesting to see whether Westport ever sees scheduled airline service again. The Buller Region has had massive hits to its industries over the years, with massive layoffs from Solid Energy, and the closure of Holcim Cement at Cape Foulwind. This week has also seen the closure of the Talleys Westport Fish processing factory with the loss of 92 jobs.
If Sounds Air could not make the route work with a PC12 and business friendly schedule, Originair with a Jetstream and a non business friendly schedule, was probably not going to work either.
Westport now joins the ranks of other New Zealand towns who have lost their air connectivity. Just like Masterton, Oamaru, Wanaka….
Will we see further retrenching of Regional Airlinks in the future?
Steve has done a fantastic job of detailing the history of airlines who have operated to Westport.
https://3rdlevelnz.blogspot.com/2015/04/westport-index-of-posts.html?m=1
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| Originair Jetstream 32 ZK-JSK on top of descent for Westport - April 2025 |
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