21 August 2019

Air Service One Year Old


Kāpiti Coast District Council and Air Chathams have today celebrated a year of flying Kāpiti skies. The airline, which undertook its first commercial flight from Kāpiti on 20 August 2018, has welcomed over 40,000 passengers on approximately 1472 flights travelling between Auckland and Paraparaumu over the last 12 months. Kāpiti Coast Mayor K Gurunathan says the encouraging statistics are testimony to the value the region places on a direct flight service through to Auckland. “It’s clear that Air Chathams is building a strong and loyal customer base that is benefiting from the comfort and convenience of this regional connection,” says Mayor Gurunathan. “Keeping Kāpiti connected and accessible through this service strengthens business and family networks and bolsters our visitor economy. Our District’s share of regional and national tourism has been increasing by 10-15% year-on-year over the past three years and this service enables us to continue that momentum.” Duane Emeny, Air Chathams General Manager says the airline has received a warm Kāpiti welcome and has enjoyed meeting its new customers over the last year. “We’d like to extend a great big thank you to all our passengers as they’ve journeyed along with us as we’ve found our place on the Kāpiti Coast,” says Mr Emeny. “As a family-run business built on our involvement in the communities we serve, we’ve heard first-hand how our service is bringing together friends, families and businesses. We think that fits our business goals perfectly.” In 2018, the Council agreed to support Air Chathams through the ‘Fly Kāpiti’ campaign to aid in promoting the service. Council’s $50,000 investment in marketing was supplemented by initial support from Air New Zealand and Kāpiti Coast Airport, which offered Air Chathams a free terminal lease for the first year, along with other ongoing discounts on operating charges. Today’s milestone was celebrated with a birthday cake for passengers and key supporters at the Kāpiti Coast Airport. 

Source : Kapiti District Council Press Release


3 comments:

  1. I flew Air Chathams PPQ/AKL in May 2019 and was impressed by the service. Despite the cabin looking a bit tired, the inflight service was great by the flight attendant and pilots despite the turbulence caused by a nasty weather front hitting the west cost of the North Island at the time.

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  2. Mum still lives in PPQ, so when I fly to AKL from ZQN I go to WLG and then train to Pram, and then take CV to AKL - Hate the saab with a passion, but it's a great service and I do like a good tim tam :)

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  3. They could be doing a lot better. They are losing a lot of passengers by under sizing the morning north bound and evening south bound. Yet again tomorrow I am flying out of WLG at exorbitant cost because I cannot get a same day return from PPQ. In fact since Air Chats took over I am yet to fly out of PPQ with them despite it always being my first choice to do so. I know of others in the same position. Putting a 36 seater on replacing a 50 seater that I never flew on with less than 40 on board and mostly 45-50 Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu & Fri is ridiculous. The Saab might be the right aircraft for the non peak flights but not on the peak time ones.

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