11 April 2020

3rd Level Not Enough... We Need Level 1




Air Chathams is bracing itself for life after Covid-19 as the aviation landscape begins to shift with the impact of the pandemic. The airline, which serves Whanganui, has gone from 120 scheduled flights a week to six. “It’s been very difficult,” Air Chathams general manager Duane Emeny said. Flights now are predominately freight and include three return flights to the Chatham Islands funded through the Government’s air freight fund. The majority of domestic travel had been stopped during the lockdown period meaning smaller regions such as Whanganui had no domestic air service at all, Emeny said. “In some ways, obviously, it’s been very hard for the airline and our sales have gone from levels that we were able to maintain a good, reliable air service to near nothing.” He said it was good they had been able to secure some central government funding and had good assistance through their bank and the Chatham Islands enterprise trust group. “As part of that funding that’s actually allowed us as an airline to effectively go into hibernation, because the majority of our workforce is Auckland-based now,” Emeny said. Emeny said the airline was coming up to renew its brand certificate and the lockdown period had given the administrative and management team time to start working through renewal manuals and housekeeping tasks. So far, Emeny said they had been able to “maintain pretty much our entire workforce using the wage subsidy scheme”. The company had several staff leaving before the impact of Covid-19 hit. He said they were able to put an employment proposal together quickly and Air Chathams chief executive Craig Emeny called every employee individually and discussed their situation and all staff gave their approval for the proposal. The company had about 150 staff and the majority had been able to connect with each other via Zoom video calls, which had proved beneficial, Emeny said. Emeny said when the country moved back to alert level 3, he did not see there being any scope for them to be able to fly domestically. “I think, looking at it realistically, we kind of need level 1 before we have any sort of confidence to resume our domestic schedules.” He said their focus was to ensure Air Chathams was in a position to best capitalise on the opportunities in the changing environment that would come from the economic impact of Covid-19. “The speed at which we resume scheduled flights will certainly be affected by the joint support and funding agreements we can establish with those organisations that have a demand for air connectivity to be reinstated,” he said. Air New Zealand has announced it will now operate on a limited schedule, with return flights between Auckland, Wellington, Nelson, Christchurch and Dunedin.

Source : Whanganui Chronicle, 11 April 2020

7 comments:

  1. Air Chathams are getting taxpayer money and still whinging.

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  2. Dear anonymous, Duane is not whinging, he is simply stating the position as it is, because at the fore front of his mind would be his desire to help not only his staff but also his customers. If you were to take time to study the origin of the airline, it was all about providing an air service to the Chatham Islanders, and that, (Craig Emeny the founder) has done in spades. I hope this has made the position clearer for you. If you don't agree, please state why. Thanks. Lastly, I have no problem identifying myself, do you?

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  3. Well said Peter. I have known and flown with this gutsy little airline for over 30 years. They don't whinge. They get on and do it. Duane is reporting the challenges they face (none of their making), what they are doing about it, and how they are keeping people in work, poised to resume as fast as they can when that becomes possible. They have the same government help meanwhile as any other business, and a truckload less than Air NZ! None of the staff who are committed to achieving this deserve this cheap false shot from someone too gutless to even provide their name.

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  4. I agree... I don't think there is any whinging here. Air Chathams like a number of our regional airlines have made a massive effort to carve out their niche in the NZ domestic aviation scene, increasingly picking up what the routes national carrier doesn't want to operate. They get no subsidy and instead gain the good will of the local community by being a community airline focused on the centres they serve. Their success is due to the nature of how they treat their staff - they treat them as family. That Duane wants to keep serving local communities and keep his staff is admirable...

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  5. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  6. Air Chathams have grown from a single aircraft operation into a very successful business. They have picked up routes where Air NZ has dropped it from their network. Air Chathams support the communities they fly into and work hard to make it work. I hope that once the Covid-19 lockdown is over Air Chathams and all the other airlines in the country are able to get back to some form of normality. Certainly not easy times for the aviation industry at present.

    I don’t agree with anonymous saying they are whinging. Maybe the comment should be removed.

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  7. Air Chathams is NZ's major 2nd level regional airline for both freight and passengers, to me it is an 'essential' company.

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