Traffic lights may need to be installed north of the Kapiti airport, in order for Air Chathams to take on the Parparaumu to Auckland air service. Air Chathams General Manager Duane Emeny told Beach FM exclusively that the performance data they’ve been waiting for has come through, and confirmed the airline will be able operate their Saab aircraft at Kapiti airport. However, it’s also raised potential “performance restrictions” that Emeny says could cause passenger disruption off-loading”, more frequently than they would like. To address this, Air Chathams would need to cut back seats sold to a level that will require fares to be higher than the airline considers competitive with neighbouring ports, after factoring in extra driving time and convenience. One solution is to operate a traffic light system north of the airport to momentarily halt traffic, but only “when required for maximum performance take-off”. Kāpiti Coast District Council Chief Executive Wayne Maxwell, says “discussions with Air Chathams are looking promising”. He says being a family-owned and operated business, Air Chathams is a good fit for Kāpiti and KCDC is doing what can be done to help them make a decision, including taking a look at traffic lights on Kāpiti Road. Mr Maxwell says: “We believe that our community will agree that if stopping traffic once or twice a day is what it takes to make it work, we need to see if we can make that happen.” Air Chathams estimates that, on average, the lights would be required about 10 times a week. Mr Emeny says “there would be “minimal disruption to traffic but it will have a huge effect” on their ability to provide the service.
Source : https://www.beachfm.co.nz/single-post/2018/03/29/Traffic-Lights-Needed-for-Air-Chathams-to-Operate-from-Kapiti-Airport
The Kapiti Coast District Council says they’re actively looking at the traffic lights issue that potential Kapiti-Auckland air service provider Air Chathams has raised...
Kāpiti Coast District Council Chief Executive Wayne Maxwell says discussions with Air Chathams are looking promising and they have expressed strong interest in establishing themselves here. “Being a family owned and operated business they are a good fit for Kāpiti and we are doing what we can to help them make a decision, this includes taking a look at traffic lights on Kāpiti Road,” he says. “We believe that our community will agree that if stopping traffic once or twice a day is what it takes to make it work, we need to see if we can make that happen,” says Mr Maxwell. “Events of the past few weeks have shown that there is strong business, community and government support for maintaining and growing regional air links between Kāpiti and other parts of New Zealand. With an average 80 per cent loading on the Air New Zealand Kāpiti-Auckland service, the Council is confident that Air Chathams will be able to come in and hit the ground running,” says Mr Maxwell.
Air Chathams estimates that, on average, the traffic lights would be required about 10 times a week.
Mr Emeny says there would be “minimal disruption to traffic but it will have a huge effect” on their ability to provide the service.
Air Chathams are exploring a number of other issues before making their final decision, as they are looking "to offer a strong, viable service going forward".
A 340A is always going to struggle with a decent load here. Wonder how a B+ would go? What s/n is their B? Can they retrofit the extended wingtips to it?
ReplyDeleteWhat a mess
ReplyDeleteDoesn't seem like an unreasonable sacrifice to keep an air service to Auckland.
DeleteSaab's have a reputation at being reliable and economical, they just doesn't quite have the same short field performance of Dash 8 or Convair.
If memory serves me right from past experience of operating NZPP, albeit in airframes heavier than the SAAB, such an installation has previously existed.
DeleteIf my recall is correct there used to be traffic lights on Kapiti Road in years gone by for just this very purpose. The lights were contolled by ATC in PP TWR which existed as part of the NZPP setup.
The Saab 340 won't cut it for the peak time flights. If Air Chathams want to make money on the route they need to capture and service the corporate market which is 90%+ of the early morning north bound and evening south bound Mon-Fri passengers. I used to regularly fly this route prior to retiring and I cannot recall an early morning or evening flight carrying less than 40 pax any day Mon-Fri and they were almost totally corporate - the baggage trolley was usually very under utilised. They will need to use the CV580 for these services just as they do on the Mon am and Fri pm WAG-AKL flights. If they don't they will lose high value pax to WLG - this surely was the lesson they learnt from WAG?
ReplyDeleteHowever this will create a different problem with all 3 CV580s needed at the same time on Mon and Fri and Air Chathams also need to consider how they will service these two routes post 2020 and the capital that will be needed when the CV580s are grounded by NZCAA.
Not an easy set of decisions needed here and very important they get them right. We don't need Air Chathams to be yet another operator who failed because they over extended themselves financially.