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The Taupo District Council has signed a deal with Sounds Air to fly the Taupo-Wellington route Air New Zealand abandons at the end of this month. The six-year agreement will see the Marlborough-based air operator provide at least three return flights on each weekday and two return flights on Saturdays and Sundays, starting as soon as possible. In return, the council will guarantee the first three seats per flight. A regular review period has been built into the agreement to ensure the arrangements are working for both parties. The 45-minute flights would be on a nine-seater Pilatus PC12, a single-engine, turboprop plane widely used in Australia and the United States, and manufactured in Switzerland. There would be a fixed price of $219 per flight regardless of when booked. Concessions for 10 flights at $209 per seat would also be available. Mayor David Trewavas said since Air New Zealand announced in November it was to cut services between Taupo and Wellington he had been approached by businesses, retailers and residents concerned about what the loss of the flights might mean for the district. A request for formal feedback from the community in March had An agreement between the Taupo District Council and Sounds Air will see Taupo-Wellington flights continue. shown there was overwhelming support for the district to retain its flight connection with the capital, he said. 'There was also support for us as the leaders of the community to do what we could to secure a service and we believe this agreement places us at minimal risk for ratepayers' funds to be called upon," he said. Figures from Air New Zealand had shown there were on average 13 passengers per flight. Trewavas said Sounds Air had a solid reputation in the aviation industry having supplied passenger services for 25 years and should be congratulated for stepping up to service the provinces. Sounds Air had recently signed a similar agreement with the Buller District Council to provide services between Westport and Wellington and also served Picton, Blenheim, Nelson, Whanganui and Paraparaumu. Trewavas said he had also been given the opportunity to experi-ence a flight and was impressed with the service on offer. "This aircraft is not only a lot quieter than the current Beechcraft 1900D, it flies higher and faster. "Once you have been on it you will be convinced it is a quality service. "We have worked hard to get the best deal for the community that we could," he said. "Hopefully, people and businesses will step up and show their support."
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| Sounds Air's Pilatus PC-12 at Taupo |
Source : Taupo Times, 24 April 2015
Great to see a couple of routes using the PC12 - it somehow feels more reassuring knowing the new planes won't be limited to a single route. If they could just pop a caravan flight twice a day from Palmerston North to Nelson then we'd have all our ex-Eagle Air flights covered. (I know it was flown as Air Nelson for the last few months but only as a preemption to Eagle Air shutting down.)
ReplyDeleteBooking to fly Taupo - Wellington tomorrow on Air NZ Eagle is $164 one way ... Wow $219 fixed with no grabaseat options... Gonna be tough.
ReplyDeleteGosh I wish they would stop with the false advertising in the papers. A PC12 does NOT fly higher and faster than a B1900D ! To say otherwise is simply lying to the public !
ReplyDeleteGood on them though for spreading the PC12 on new routes. $219 is cheap, they will want it full every flight to make anything
A letter to edition perhaps? NZ media are obsessed with attacking Air NZ at every opportunity, false stories, lies, extended truth or misinformed sources as well as complete and utter ignorance.
DeleteTo be fair, the PC12 has a ceiling of 30,000' as opposed to 1900's 25,000'
ReplyDeleteHowever, the B1900 is much faster, despite what the aero club "experts" would have you believe.
Nobody would argue that the PC12 is quieter.
That is because it has only one engine.
$219 seems a fair price, prob a little on the steeper side. Was hoping they might have adopted the same price as the WSZ services. The 1900D is a noisy, but super powerful aircraft. I doubt the Eagle pilots are allowed to use all the power the Beech can offer. Hence why maybe the PC12 is faster, as Sounds Air can use the PC12s full power. I could be very very wrong, like everyone else, just assuming. On the WLG-TUO route, Eagle generally flew at around 18-22000ft. Very possibly Sounds Air will fly the PC12 higher. Again assuming. Maybe Sounds Air are being very clever with their advertising. We all know the PC12 will not out perform a 1900D when the 1900D is going full tit and max altitude ect, but maybe they are referring to HOW the PC12 will be operated.
ReplyDeleteWishing Sounds Air nothing but the very best for their new services, and also to Great Barrier Airlines and Air Chathams who are taking on the KAT and WHK services respectively. Sounds Air have and are proving to be a innovative operator. Well done
I have often thought that if Jetstar really wanted a slice of the action for regional New Zealand, why don't they interline with some of these smaller operators. You could have Great Barrier Airlines to Kaitaia and Great Barrier Island, Air Chathams to the Chatham Islands and Whakatane, Sounds Air to Wanganui, Nelson, Blenheim, and Westport, or even smaller operators like Golden Bay Air to Takaka (might be pushing it). Then passengers could check in say Westport, and fly Sounds Air to Wellington, then Jetstar to Auckland and then International on Jetstar or affiliate. Also it would provide seemless connections for these regions to connect to NZs other big cities.
ReplyDeleteThe are numerous reasons why JQ would never ever consider such an interline.
DeleteFirstly, Ansett NZ tried similar interlines with BellAir and other smaller operators which became Tranzair. Of course as we know all the is now history.
Jetstar's business model is primarily centred around the A320 fleet, offering the lowest possible fares on the main trunk and onto its australiasian network. The revenue it would earn from teaming up with a piper or cessna operator isn't worth the effort.
There would also be the same issues that Air NZ has mentioned with an interline on these small carriers. That is luggege handling, insurance and security as well as brand reputation. For Air NZ, their star alliance obligations in 2015 would never allow for a single engine operator to be tied in. Many business travellers are restricted from flying on single engine single pilot aircraft as well.
Jetstar is in the low cost market, high overhead regional flying is not its area of expertise. Entering into this market would make the business more complex than its Australian parent and also being its median fares upward and destroy the sensationalism surrounding regional flying being too expensive.
The PC12 true airspeed is faster than the Beech 1900D true airspeed. The PC12 ceiling is 30,000ft and the Beech Ceiling is 25,000ft. The PC12 flies higher and faster than the Beech 1900D. I fly a Beech 1900D... the Beech is certainly NOT "much faster"
ReplyDeleteJust because an aircraft has a service ceiling of 30,000ft, doesn't mean that's where it will be operated. The Cessna 421 golden eagle has a service ceiling of 30,000 ft, you don't see them cruising around up there. Its not practical, or efficient. The PC12 is no different. I used to fly a couple of 1900s and have had the pleasure of flying around in a PC12 many times across Australia. They are hands down a beautiful aeroplane, so well designed and thought out. However they don't have the jet like performance made out here. Particularly in climb, they are nothing like a 1900. I remember TAS of around 255,- 260kts which was slower than the 270-285 in the beech we used to see. I don't remember riding any hire than 25000 in the PC12 as it simply ran out of puff to have any acceptable speed. Granted, these were older model PC12s. I would very much doubt sounds air would be flying much higher than the early 20s on those routes, it would take too long to get any higher, by the time you got to 30000ft, wellington would be below you. Good luck to them though
ReplyDelete