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A couple of comments on this blog this morning led to checked out Air New Zealand's reservations system to check out what was posted...
Air New Zealand is indeed operating ATR 72s on scheduled services to both Hokitika and Kerikeri from April this year.
From the 21st of April the two Sunday Bombardier Q300 flights between Christchurch and Hokitika are being replaced by a single ATR 72 flight. This is the first time ATRs have operated a regular schedule to Hokitika.
From the 22nd of April the first Monday flight from Auckland to Kerikeri will be operated by ATR 72s.
The move is short-lived and will go through to September when both Kerikeri and Hokitika ATR flights revert back to Bombardier Q300s.
You’ll find that the KKE service switches to Wednesdays mid-September, and the Sunday flight to HKK is all the way until the summer schedule kicks in late October.
ReplyDeleteKerikeri would be weight restricted as runway is only 1190m. Also been told that ATR's are also planned for Timaru.
ReplyDeleteATR's have operated to TIU previously. Used during the Xmas period in 2021 IIRC.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know why this is? Is it due to maintenance requirements for the q300s or something else?
ReplyDeleteLooks as though Gisborne is going fully ATR as from April, I think this is due to some new ATR's arriving
ReplyDeleteGIS is still all Q300’s. They’re retiring the NZ8XXX flight numbers from April and moving to NZ5XXX for the Q300 which is perhaps what you’re seeing?
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