A Fantastic Flying Experience

As I have reflected back on my flight back from Kerikeri to Auckland on Monday 5 August 2024 I thought about the difference between flying in Air New Zealand's Q300 and Barrier Air's Cessna 208B Grand Caravan I would put the difference as a "bus service" compared to a "flying experience." 

The experience started long before departure with people coming along and chatting to Barrier Air's General Manager Karen Pascoe who was working in Kerikeri and bedding in the airline's new check-in area and airport staff. People were dropping by to say welcome to the Bay of Islands, some booking flights as well as the normal check-in procedures. There was real interest in the new service and delight in the lead in air fares.

It was a long walk out to the plane and we were kept together to go out as a group and this started people chatting. Our ride for the full flight to Auckland was Barrier Air's first Cessna Grand Caravan, ZK-SDB. Flying the sector was James Hannah with Barrier Air's Flight Standards Training Manager, Daryl Williamson. Also on board was Barrier Air's CEO Grant Bacon who helped with the boarding and was chatting with the passengers. It's this friendly style that is getting Barrier Air a great reputation in the communities it serves. 

James Hannah waiting for his passengers besides Barrier Air's Cessna 208B Grand Caravan at Kerikeri ready for its scheduled service to Auckland

The simple but functional Bay of Islands Airport's terminal

Boarding for Auckland

Backtracking to depart on Runway 15

Rolling 15 at Kerikeri

The flight from Kerikeri to Auckland is a spectacular route if the cloud permits... Unfortunately we were above cloud most of the way... but the views when there were views were superb. Flying lower than Air New Zealand's Q300s it was possible to enjoy a lot more of New Zealand's scenic beauty.

Looking over to the Bay of Islands

There has obviously been a fair bit of rain in the north as seen between Moerewa and Kawakawa

Finally the cloud broke as we were crossing Sandspit

A skiff of cloud over Kawau Island with Algies Bay and Mullet Point in the foreground

Kawau Island again

A ship anchored in the Gulf

Motutapu Island

And the closest I've ever come to Rangitoto and its crater... some annoying cloud

The Auckland CBD and harbour bridge - nice photos Grant

Joining base for Runway 23 at Auckland

Manukau industrial and rail infrastructure

As on the inaugural flight there was applause as we landed and a real buzz among the passengers. "Fantastic", "amazing," "It's Barrier Air for me all the time" were some of the comments. And some seemed reluctant to leave the plane just enjoying chatting after a fantastic flying experience.

Barrier Air's new Kerikerii have started with 11 return flights a week between Kerikeri and Auckland.

 

On Barrier Air's Inaugural Flight to Kerikeri

 

It was a pleasure to fly on Barrier Air's inaugural flight from Auckland to Kerikeri last night, the 4th of August 2024. The airline is operating 11 return flights each week between the two centres with flights offered daily. 

Our flight to Kerikeri was sandwiched between Barrier Air's two Friday evening flights to Kaitaia. Barrier Air is currently offering 16 return flights a week to the far north town of Kaitaia.

The first flight, GB515, was operated by Cessna 208B Grand Caravan ZK-SDG under the command of Steve Holden. He also flew the first southbound flight, GB504, on the 5th of August 2024 at 6.45am. The northbound flight was supposed to be a full flight but there were a couple of no shows.

A couple of ATRs as we taxied out

Lining up on 05

Stunning views of Auckland as we departed... unfortunately we entered the cloud as we were passing the CBD

On the approach to Kerikeri

Passengers on board the first flight were delighted with the new service and the landing was greeted with applause and passengers were full on enthusiasm as they departed the aircraft.

ZK-SDG on the ground at Kerikeri

A Radio NZ piece had this to say on the arrival of the new service :

Competition has arrived on Northland's busiest air route with the inaugural Barrier Air flight from Auckland to Kerikeri landing at Bay of Islands Airport just before 7pm on Sunday. The first passenger off the plane was Kerikeri man Chris Hoffman, who was delighted to be able to choose which airline to fly with for the first time in many years. "The flight was excellent. I chose Barrier Air to support a new airline, and more competition coming in to Kerikeri. I fly with them out of Kaitāia quite regularly so it's great to see them having a new location here in the North," Hoffmann said. The first passenger off Barrier Air’s inaugural flight to Kerikeri, Chris Hoffmann, receives a warm welcome at Bay of Islands Airport. Another passenger said she'd planned to drive to Kerikeri to visit her best friend, but changed her mind when she discovered she could fly with Barrier Air for a third the cost of flying with Air New Zealand. After overnighting at Kerikeri the airline's 12-seater Cessna Grand Caravan will make two return trips Monday; departing Kerikeri at 6.45am and 1.45pm, and Auckland at 12.30pm and 5.15pm. Initially Barrier Air will operate 11 return flights a week, but could ramp that up if there's enough demand. The airline already flies 15,000 passengers a year between Kaitāia and Auckland - a route it took on when Air New Zealand pulled out of the country's northernmost airport in 2015 - but the Kerikeri service is the first time it has gone head-to-head with the national carrier in Northland. Also on the inaugural flight to Kerikeri was Barrier Air general manager Karen Pascoe, who was "very excited" to be increasing the links between Northland and Auckland. "The inaugural flight was fully booked. The response has been great, and our social media has been going off. It's very encouraging," she said. "The reason for us coming to Kerikeri was our customers asking us to give it a go, and open it up more for Northland. It's giving folk choices to get up to Northland on holiday, or down to Auckland to see whānau or travel overseas." Pascoe acknowledged taking on Air New Zealand would not be easy. "Big brother's always there but we're just listening to the North. We're going to give it a go, and give it our best shot." Earlier, chief executive Grant Bacon told RNZ it made sense to expand Barrier Air's service to the Far North's biggest town. "We figure that to continue our trajectory, Kerikeri is the next logical option. It's still quite a distance to get to Auckland and there's a need for choice in the Far North market, in particular Kerikeri." Feedback from the market was that Bay of Islands residents wanted more choice, fair prices, and another option when Air New Zealand flights were cancelled. Bacon said if the Kerikeri service went well, the airline would consider expanding to Whangārei. Northlanders have become frustrated in recent years with Air New Zealand's high cancellation rate. In the 2023-24 financial year, 6.5 percent of the national airline's Northland flights, or almost one 1 in 15, were cancelled. The Kerikeri figure was just under 5 percent, or 1 in 20 flights. However, Air New Zealand said in the first four months of this year its Kerikeri cancellation rate was just 1.7 percent, or 20 flights out of a total of 1178. Moves to improve reliability included adding a 68-seater ATR-72 aircraft to the Kerikeri schedule in April this year, the airline said. The last time there was competition on the Auckland-Kerikeri route was in 2008-12, when Paihia company Salt Air operated daily return flights between Bay of Islands and North Shore airports. Flight Hauraki and North Shore Air offered similar but short-lived services in 2012 and 2015, respectively. Barrier Air also flies to North Shore, Whitianga, Tauranga, and its birthplace on Aotea Great Barrier Island.

Source and photos can be found at : https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/524146/competition-lands-in-northland-as-barrier-air-flights-to-kerikeri-begin

Barrier Air's Kerikeri Service Begins

 

It was champagne and cakes as Barrier Air launched its new Kerikeri-Auckland air service this evening  4 August 2024. The first flight, GB515, is being operated by Cessna 208B Grand Caravan ZK-SDG under the command of Steve Holden. The first southbound flight, GB504, will operate tomorrow, 5 August 2024 at 6.45am but the Tuesday to Friday flights depart at 5.45am.

11 return flights are being offered between the two centres each week.

Barrier Air's CEO Grant Bacon told 3rd Level NZ, It is great to be leveraging off the success of our Kaitaia route into another northland town. We see Kaitaia go from strength to strength on all measures and it is only logical that in order to continue our companies growth trajectory that we expand into Kerikeri. I have always liked the demographics of Kerikeri and it is a long commute to Auckland as opposed to say Whangārei. 

We are really happy with the seat sales so far. The average fare price does need to rise a bit but given the tough economic conditions it will be a gradual and balanced approach. The support from KeriKeri locals has been brilliant so far. Also Far North Holdings have done a great job at assisting us into this new route. It is exciting times.

Auckland to Kerikeri flights:

✈️ Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays - Departing at 12:30pm and 6pm

✈️ Tuesdays and Thursdays - Departing at 6pm

✈️ Saturdays - Departing at 12:30pm

Kerikeri to Auckland flights:

✈️ Mondays - Departing at 6:45am and 1:45pm

✈️ Wednesdays - Departing at 5:45am and 1:45pm

✈️ Tuesdays and Thursdays - Departing at 5:45am

✈️ Fridays - Departing at 5:45am, 1:45pm and 7:15pm

✈️ Saturdays and Sundays - Departing at 1:45pm

And a note for other plane spotters who want to do an up and back there are lots of good fares as the new service beds in.

A new type...

Today I had I flew on a second new type for the first time... A Swiss International Airbus 220-100, HB-JBD, arriving here into Rome-Fiumicino for my flight to Zurich on 31 July 2024... My second and last new type of this trip

 

An Interesting Development

 

In an interesting development Fairchild Metro 23 ZK-POE, which had been registered to Air Chathams but had not flown since Airwork days has been placed on the Australian civil aircraft register even though it remains sitting engineless at Auckland. It was cancelled from the New Zealand civil aircraft register as "withdrawn" on the 6th of June 2024 and was placed on the Australian civil aircraft register as VH-AC5 on the 19th of July registered to EastWest Aviation Pty Ltd and being operated by Sharp Aviation Pty Ltd.

The fact that is has been registered indicates it might yet see further service.

Thank you to the person who wrote a comment about this on another post.

A full history of ZK-POE's New Zealand history can be found here : https://3rdlevelnz.blogspot.com/2024/06/zk-poe-cancelled-from-register.html

ZK-CID takes on Australian Citizenship

Ex-Air Chathams' Fairchild Metroliner III ZK-CID, which was previously operated by Air Nelson and in various roles with Airwork as ZK-NSS, was cancelled from the New Zealand civil aircraft register on the 23rd of July 2024. It was placed on the Australian civil aircraft register as VH-SEZ on the 24th of July registered to EastWest Aviation Pty Ltd and being operated by Sharp Aviation Pty Ltd.

A full history of ZK-NSS and ZK-CID's New Zealand history can be found here : https://3rdlevelnz.blogspot.com/2024/06/and-now-zk-cid-goes.html

 

Winter Schedule

Given the winter seasonal drop in demand, Island Aviation is adjusting the frequency of daily flights out of North Shore to Claris. From the 29th of July, the operator will regularly offer a morning departure from North Shore to Claris on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday with a return flight from Claris to North Shore in the afternoon. This will still allow visitors to visit the island for a day. On Monday, Friday and Sunday the operator will continue with flights to the island at 8.30 a.m. and 3 p.m., and flights from Claris at 9.30 a.m. and 4 p.m. On Saturdays, there are morning flights to Claris at 8.30 a.m. with a flight back to the North Shore at 9.30 a.m. Island Aviation will then return to 2-4 flights per day as demand increases in the Spring. Charter flights from North Shore and Ardmore to both Claris and Okiwi are still available on demand.

3-Month Stint

 

News out of Tonga today...

Lulutai Airlines has leased an additional aircraft, a SAAB 340B, from Air Chathams out of New Zealand for three months to increase the number of seats on the domestic inter-island service. Tonga’s national carrier airline announced that the aircraft arrived in Tonga on 16 July and would begin operating this week, under Lulutai Airline’s Air Operating Certificate. The 34-seat aircraft will help to meet the increase in domestic passenger demand. These extra services coincide with the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting in August, and the 2024 whale-watching season which normally runs from July to October, Lulutai stated. CEO for Lulutai Airlines Poasi Tei said, “We are thrilled to announce this strategic expansion of our fleet. “By adding Air Chathams’ aircraft to our network, we are well-positioned to accommodate the significant rise in domestic travel expected during the peak season. This commitment ensures we can continue to provide our valued customers with exceptional service and reliable connections throughout Tonga.” The Chief Operating Officer for Air Chathams, Duane Emeny also stated, “Air Chathams is humbled to be given the opportunity to once again serve the Friendly Islands. Many of our existing airline team have very fond memories of our time in the Kingdom and are looking forward to supporting Lulutai Airlines through this very busy period for their airline. We wish to acknowledge the proactive support of the Tongan Government and the Tongan Civil Aviation Department for making this lease operation possible.” The lease was made possible with funding assistance from the Government of Australia. Air Chathams was an operator in Tonga’s domestic air services from 2008 to 2013. However, Lulutai currently has two aircarfts, a 19-seater Twin Otter and a 17-seater Y12. The Lulutai's other Saab 340 aircraft is awaiting a final report from aviation safety invesitigators following an accident in December, 2023, at Fua'amotu Domestic Airport.

Source : https://matangitonga.to/2024/07/17/lulutai-airlines-leases-saab-340b-domestic-flights

On the 17th of July 2024 ZK-CIZ began operating Tongatapu-Vava'u flights with three return flights being operated on the 17th.