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A couple of comments have been written in response to the post http://3rdlevelnz.blogspot.co.nz/2015/04/13-flights-week-for-hokitika.html
Once said, Negatively written articles like this actually scare people away from supporting these services and create a culture of negativity and uncooperative behaviours by councils and locals toward the airline and cause this off-side standoffishness from all parties. Another talked of anti air nz spin.
Having re-read the article I don't think it is negative, nor anti-Air NZ.
My guess is Mayor Mike Havill would be quite happy with the present Air NZ service to Hokitika as it covers all the bases. It has an early morning departure from Hokitika and early evening return enabling local business people the ability to do a full day business in Auckland, Wellington or Christchurch. It also is timed for people from Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch wanting to do a full day business on the Coast.
However, it does have its limitations...
The first is the early morning Christchurch-Hokitika service is often full which is a sign that it needs a larger aircraft. For some people this flight leaves Christchurch too late. A lot of medical staff fly over to Hokitika to work at Greymouth Hospital... there is some frustration by the DHB that the first flight arrives in Hokitika at 9.30am (Tues-Fri) and 9.50am (Mon). By the time the medical staff drive the 30 minutes to Greymouth nothing is going to happen before 10.15am or later!
Another is the early morning flight out of Hokitika and evening one back into Hokitika. At present, for Greymouth people have to drive 30 minutes to Hokitika to catch a 40 minute flight to Christchurch and wait for a connection to Wellington. Until Air NZ pulled out of Westport a number of people drove to Westport (1 hour 15 minutes) and caught a direct flight... a lot cheaper than a fare Hokitika-Christchurch + Christchurch-Wellington. Alternately a lot of people drive to Christchurch to catch a direct/cheaper flight on Air NZ or Jetstar! For years the Coasters have been asking for a direct Hokitika-Wellington flight going up in the morning and coming back in the evening. Air West Coast did very well flying to Wellington out of Greymouth without affecting the Air NZ service out of Hokitika to any great extent. Eagle Air always recognised the car as its competition!
This providing for business traffic in and out of provincial towns is what Eagle Air developed when it had more independence. This is what Great Barrier Airlines, Air Chathams and Sounds Air have all recognised as the need for Kaitaia, Whakatane and Westport. Both Sounds Air and Air Chathams are overnighting their aircraft at Westport and Whakatane and during the day the plane sits on the ground for most of the day at these centres.
Mayor Mike Havill has recognised that if they don't get a good service they will lose business traffic and they then could ultimately lose the air service. So the stakes are high! He wants an Air NZ service and the tenor of the article is, I think, lets get this right so it is good for the region and Air NZ.
Meanwhile 40 km north Greymouth mayor Tony Kokshoorn is pushing for Sounds Air to fly into Greymouth. If I was Sounds Air I would be waiting and seeing what Air NZ offers central Westland.
Ultimately I think anything less than 3 weekday flights will be a disaster for the long term future of the Hokitika service... NAC used to operate to the region when they had a plane "spare" rather than when people wanted to fly. Since Air NZ withdrew the Friendships the Coast has had a service that flew when people wanted to fly and that grew the numbers. Now the question is will the airline try to grow the service or not.
So what would I do if I could draw up the Air NZ schedule???
So what would I do if I could draw up the Air NZ schedule???
Option one
HKK-WLG 0700-0830
CHC-HKK 0800-0840 (After arrival of first AKL and WLG flight)
HKK-CHC 0900-0940
CHC-HKK 1630-1710
HKK-CHC 1730-1810
WLG-HKK 1800-1930
Option two
HKK-CHC 0700-0740
CHC-HKK 0800-0840 (After arrival of first AKL and WLG flight)
HKK-CHC 0900-0940
CHC-HKK 1630-1710
HKK-CHC 1730-1810
CHC-HKK 1900-1940
Time will tell if Air NZ is willing to grow this service as well as the other provincial services... Personally I am worried for the future for Hokitika, Timaru, and Taupo if they only get two flights a day
HKK-CHC and BHE-CHC were to change from 1900D to Q300 at the same time, so it looks like they will be sharing a Q300 unless something dramatic happens to free up more Q300's,
ReplyDeleteOne way would be to change the three overnighting Q300's, IVC-CHC x 2 and IVC-WLG, to an IVC-CHC-WLG 320 throughflight.
Wondered if the November 2015 IVC-MEL-IVC Melbourne Cup charter was a sign.
It is not as simple as that. The asset (airframe) must be used to the best effect to achieve the best return of the asset. While each destination would love to have an early departure from and an early arrival to the airport the ticket price (or the possible load factor required) to support two airframes operating at the same time would be prohibitive i.e your option 1 would be a no go.
ReplyDeleteAs you rightly pointed out the competition to the cost of air travel is the automobile. At $80 a ticket you may get lots of passengers but go bust, but at $180 you may break even but will lose passengers to the car. Almost no one ever looks at the true cost of road transport, they just look at the cost of the fuel to make the decision.
This is why routes such as Timaru/Omaru to CHC will never work no matter who tries to fly the route. The same for any two points that are an option to drive within a couple of hours.
I agree with everything you say... My suggestion is just "what would I do if I could draw up the Air NZ schedule" I don't envy the Air NZ schedulers trying to keep everyone happy... If they don't do an early morning/late evening return someone else will out of Greymouth. Similar arrangements could happen for other centres as well!
Delete"Both Sounds Air and Air Chathams are overnighting their aircraft at Westport and Whakatane and during the day the plane sits on the ground for most of the day at these centres."
ReplyDeleteIf your aircraft is not flying you are not making money! I know that some don't like that aspect but I am sure the shareholders of Air NZ would complain that the companies assets are not being used for their best potential.
But in Air Chathams case, only the Metro spends the day in WHK. The Convair spends the day in AKL. I was told the other day that between its WHK morning flight, and it's return to WHK in the evening, it did a return CHT freight run.
ReplyDeleteDedicated aircraft for each sector. Currently CIE/CIC WHK and CIF CHT.
DeleteMaybe on some days of the week the Q300 could overnight in HKK and the rest of the time it could overnight in CHC. On the days starts in HKK there could be 7am and 12pm departures and the days in starts in CHC 8am and 6pm departures. This would also business travel both ways accept on different days. It is still a mystery how the final beechs will be replaced. There are 5 Q300s allocated to replace the beech. 3 are already going to TIU, WAG, and ROT. BHE-CHC will probably not have an overnight aircraft. Either GIS-WLG or HLZ-PMR will not get an overnight plane.
ReplyDeleteRumored GIS will have overnight Q300 from/to Wellington. Tauranga will go to 2 overnight Q300s and 1 ATR which will operate the am CHC flight. IVC will all be ATRs
ReplyDeleteCorrect, current plan is to move one of the 3 Q300 overnighters in IVC to an ATR, this will likely be the aircraft freed up to do the HKK overnight.
Deletecurrently on Monday morning, the duty goes IVC-CHC-HKK-CHC.
This would simply change to HKK-CHC-HKK-CHC and then in the evening CHC-HKK-CHC-HKK. I think you'll see upto 4 flights each way per day with the airline indicating they are prepared to do 2 at minimum.
It'll come down to the coasters to support it or not.