AIR CHATHAMS VISIT
Friday, March 23, 2018
Privately owned Air Chathams, established in 1984 is based on Chatham Island, New Zealand. They have specialised in transportation of freight, charters and passengers within New Zealand, Australia and the South Pacific. A management team from Air Chathams plan to visit Norfolk Island 26-28 March and meet with relevant industry stakeholders. This is a due diligence exercise to decide if the airline could provide a service from Auckland to Norfolk Island. The team will be arriving on a Commander 690A – which is owned by the company. Air Chathams have a diverse fleet of aircraft available for group charter with the Convair 580 being the most suitable for Norfolk Island. The Convair 580 was designed when passenger comfort was a priority, with very generous seat pitch and leg room and large viewing windows. It is the fastest multi-engine turbo-prop aircraft in operation in NZ. This aircraft is extremely versatile with an excellent payload range, meaning you can carry more passengers/freight further and to more isolated destinations Air Chathams has three Convair 580’s, one with full freight and combination freight and passenger ability, and the other two are a 50 seat passenger configuration with large cargo holds for passenger luggage and freight. All aircraft have toilets on board, and a flight galley for preparing food and beverage service to meet customer requirements. We will keep the community informed of the outcome of the visit and are confident you will make them feel welcome during their brief stay.
Lotta Jackson
GENERAL MANAGER
23 March 2018
Source : http://www.norfolkonlinenews.com/ni-regional-council/air-chathams-visit
Ah, more Convairs, that would be nice.
ReplyDeleteOr?
ReplyDelete3 news last night reported a jet by the end of the year
ReplyDeleteI saw the same on 3 News.
Delete"The airline is now looking at buying a jet to add to its more than a dozen strong fleet.
DeleteAnd by the end of the year, it hopes to have an Auckland to Kapiti route and New Zealand's only direct flight to Australia's Norfolk Island."
The chances of having a jet by year end is extraordinarily unlikely. Specially since CHT aint got the runway thats needed yet.
Imagine what a 737 in Air Chathams livery would look like??!!
ReplyDeleteTake away the jet topic, getting the extra Saabs, was this a potential preemptive plan for Air Chats to free up the Convairs from maintenance stand in for the Saabs, so that they could be used for this Norfalk route?
Once Whakatane extends the runway, would you see potential Saab flights operating out of Whakatane? If that was to happen, what life or future does the Metros have with air chats? With Whakatane being the only route being metro operated. Whanganui and potentially Paraparamumu being Saab operated. Could metros time with Air Chats becoming to a end in the mid term future, could they be entirely replaced by the Saab or will they still be a handy fill in aircraft for Air Chats in the foreseeable future? Where else would be a perfect fit for the Metros of Air Chats? What routes currently operated by air NZ that are rumored to be on the chop would a metro be a good fit
ReplyDeleteTake the Convair out of the Wanganui loop and we will have to go to four flights a day.
ReplyDeleteI think you are over thinking all of this. Look at the bigger picture re the CVs. They will be grounded soon when their exemption for not having a bullet proof cockpit door expires. B737s or A320s are massively oversized for any current or proposed Air Chat routes incl Norfolk.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand the US bone parks are full of 35-50 seat Embraer and Canadair RJs some of which have cargo doors. They are also designed to operate out of small regional airfields like CHT, WHK and PPQ. But an RJ will need to be used much more heavily than the CVs to pay for itself but will operate the CHT and Norfolk routes in a significantly shorter time. A combo of the CHT and Norfolk routes as, eg, CHT - WLG/AKL/CHC - Norfolk and return would be a good usage and probably right sized for both markets. A 2nd jet would be needed as backup - this could be used on the AKL-PPQ route that would need it Mon-Fri early north bound and evening south bound. And it wouldn't surprise me if they bought a 3rd for the charter fleet / deep backup.
As for the Metros given Air Chats recently bought 2 more they must have something in mind for them. AKL-MAS has been talked about as has WHK-WLG. Both would be right sized. I also suspect that even after WHK runway is fixed a mix of Saab and Metro is more likely than pure Saab (probably only needed morning north bound evening south bound) making a link to WLG feasible. The Metro would make more sense for the talked about (by Air Chats) PPQ-CHC too. They could position it by offering an early morning AKL-PPQ and evening north bound both of which Air NZ never offered but might be popular with those using AKL international flights.
Perhaps we will learn more when Air Chats deliver their much overdue promised statement on PPQ.
Spend millions on a jet that can't carry any more than a covair? The whole point of getting a 737 is to expand capacity and lower per kilo cost.
DeleteHow can a Convair carry as much as a 737? 7000kg vs 19000kg
DeleteHe means an RJ vs a 737.
DeleteA 737 will be in chats colours before long
The decision has already been made, it's just getting the resourcing in the background sorted out.
Side note, it won't be a full 737, it'll be a 737-400 combi.
DeleteRJs range in size from 35 seats to 95 seats.
DeleteB737 doesn't fit any of the airfields Chats serve (CHT/WHK/WAG/PPQ) and only CHT has upgrade plans that might although there is no funding available at this stage.
None of those routes are likely to be big enough to need the capacity of a B737 - Combi or otherwise - any time in the foreseeable future.
As for NLK see others comments below.
RJs in the 35 - 70 seat range make way more sense ....
I think Chats may operate the odd charter to NLK but I'm not expecting to see scheduled services. Air Chatams get to know their communities and develop a 'local' feel for their services however I must point out, this is exactly the origin of every iteration of Norfolk Island Airlines (and other various names) that hasn't worked. The local airlines have been embedded in the community, often had a whack of community money thrown at them (I'll leave you to investigate how much the local community, already basically broke, spent on advertising the NLK-AKL-NLK service last year). That "community airline" operated with loads in the single digits on more than one occassion.
ReplyDeleteRather than romanticising the island, I'd encourage readers to do some research on the precarious state of the islands finances and how many businesses have shut up shop/moved back to the mainland in recent years.
Tour group charters are one thing when someone else is carrying the risk but scheduled services......I'd tread carefully if my coin was on the line.
Problem is they kept running expensive jets. If you go for smaller turbo-props than I believe it can work.
DeleteWhat fleet will you guys see Air Chats streamlining to??
ReplyDelete737
Saab
Metro
737
Cv570
Metro
Saab
737
Saab
Dc3....
Doubt there would be a rigid plan. Take opportunity when it comes up and go with the flow. It's worked for them for the past 30 years.
ReplyDeleteRJ/Dash8/ATR42
ReplyDeleteSaab
Metro
737 and saab
ReplyDelete