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Sad, sad, sad news from Sounds Air today with its announcement that it was going to cut its Blenheim to Christchurch and Christchurch to Wānaka services from the 28th of September and sell its fleet of Pilatus PC12 aircraft.
Sounds Air commenced flying between Blenheim and Christchurch on the 1st of August 2016 following Air New Zealand withdrawing from the route the day before. Pilatus PC12 ZK-PLX was used for the first flights.
Their Christchurch-Wānaka service started on on the 2nd of November 2020 with Pilatus PC12 ZK-PLV operating the first flights from Wānaka to Christchurch and return.
The move means the loss of 10 jobs at Christchurch and Wānaka and the five PC12s going on the market. Pilatus PC12 ZK-PLV was sold earlier this year after Sounds Air pulled out of Taupō and Westport on the 31st of December 2024.
Sounds Air will now shift its focus to “restore and rebuild the viability of the business” based on its traditional Cook Strait services and the much more economical platform of the Cessna 208 Caravan.
Managing director Andrew Crawford said, We are truly devastated that we have been forced into this position after five years of fighting for a solution. It will mean the loss of a number our dedicated and skilled staff, but we are also hugely disappointed for our incredibly loyal customer base who rely on us to get around New Zealand - not only for tourism and leisure purposes but also for regional access to critical healthcare and higher education, and to do business that contributes to New Zealand’s regional economies.
Sounds Air have always been innovative and entrepreneurial but skyrocketing costs since Covid and the Ukranian invasion and the complexity of the Pilatus PC12 has placed the airline in an untenable position.
To Andrew Crawford and the Sounds Air team, kia kaha!
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| Sounds Air's Pilatus PC12 ZK-PLX was arriving into Christchurch from Blenheim on 4 January 2017 |
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| Sounds Air's Pilatus PC12 ZK-PLX arriving into Wānaka on the 31st of October 2023 with flight S8 715 from Christchurch. My profile of Sounds Air can be found here : https://3rdlevelnz.blogspot.com/2014/08/sounds-air-fast-scenic-way-to-cross.html |
Such rural routes to service the community are only viable in Australia with Government subsidy. Shame there is no such possibility in NZ, where instead there is plenty of money to assist overseas countries in war.
ReplyDeleteAustralia is also stupidly massively bigger than nz. Is there anywhere here that is not a 2 hour drive from a airport? These small thin routes are money pits.
ReplyDeleteUntil the market accepts that it costs way more than $150 to operate ANY aircraft you will see more and more airline failures in the coming months. The industry is sick of working for peanuts.
ReplyDeleteAgree entirely. Low cost airlines operating at larger scale have caused public delusion that those fares should also exist on regional routes with the highest cost per seat. Ludicrous, more to come
DeleteThe government talks up a big game of ensuring regional connectivity to support travel, business and healthcare but when it comes to financial support to regional airlines to ensure that connectivity, they are nowhere to be found
ReplyDeleteIf the government owned airline is not willing to fly there at a loss then why can't the NZ Government subsidise these routes? Driving to Wanaka in the winter is not always an option. Do those people not deserve an air service for business or medical purposes alone? Also watch the airfares between Blenheim and Christchurch go up now there is no competition there.
ReplyDeleteI believe Sounds Air's withdrawal from this route means you can not fly scheduled for any price! let alone a competitive market.
DeleteAs at 28 Sept there will be no operator on this route.
DeleteAir NZ offers Blenheim to Christchurch, transitting Wellington, at up to four times a day, at fares reasonably comparable to what a direct regional flight fare might be. But a fare perhaps not constrained once Soundsair stops.
DeleteI’ve done some silly things in my time but getting into aviation as a career definitely takes the cake. I am actually embarrassed to tell people that I am involved with the industry these days. What a basket case.
ReplyDeleteCould you elaborate more? Why would you as an employee be embarrassed?
DeleteBecause the whole industry is failing and I’m about to loose my job!!! The only reason Air NZ exists today is because of government bailouts. The whole industry is under priced and the market needs to accept that seat prices need to go up massively.
DeleteI'm curious to know what you mean by 'government bailouts' - yes, the NATIONAL CARRIER was rescued in 2001 - 24 years ago!! Recently?
DeleteThe narrative of endless ‘bailouts’ is media fueled.
DeleteThe NZ government has received repayment in the form of dividends many many times over during the 24 years since the Clark government chose that path. They were not forced.
The government cashed out hundreds of millions during the Key government sell down to 51%.
The Covid loans were high interest and now repaid via capital raise.
Good grief. Let’s start with Covid? A 900 million dollar loan that would never have been secured by other operator but the national career. All third level airlines got zilch and were left out in the cold.
DeleteNot to mentioned the $100 million dollar subsidy Air NZ got to operate it service to China in 2022.
Must be nice when your majority shareholder owns a money printer.
The subsidy to continue flying freight was very important for the NZ economy and the Adern government’s covid response supplies etc. would it have been better for the government to have overlooked Air NZ and paid the subsidy money to foreign carriers to fly long haul freight in its place? Surely that would’ve been more outrageous.
DeleteInterestingly though, Air NZ did win contracts to fly freight for the Australian government during that period. Which did seem odd it wasn’t Qantas and Australian jobs
More than half of Air NZ’s weekly flights are regional (2000 flights).
DeleteLong haul International and pacific flights are vital to cargo exporters and therefore the economy.
It would’ve been very ballsy to have allowed the business to collapse and grind the country to a halt.
A completely new airline certainly wouldn’t restart all the 37 regional routes operated before Covid! The loan was not a gift.
The big thing with NZ and our mentality.. we feel we are this country with amazing infrastructure and roading and how we can just commute to your nearest airport like your driving on uks and Europe's four lane motorway from city to city..
ReplyDeleteWhich is as far as reality you can get and although the likes of Whanganui, wesport, taupo and the likes are a.. on paper a hour and a half drive.. you are forgetting how band and congested our road network can be, how the likes of Taupo to Rotorua can have some terrible fog in the winter. How these respective airports are on the other side of the town
NZ is still a aviation country and aviation plays such an integral part of our society..
Also..
In a time of efficiency, time is money work life balance.
How is driving hour and a half each way being efficient and cost effective when a hour flight and your at your destination..
Aviation needs a mindset change in NZ though, with the question mark over Air NZs dash 8s, the lack of any market in the world for new efficient 15-19-30 seat pressurized market..
Could PAC be that manufacturer thay develops a home grown solution..
Does there also need a mindset change in the way air nz works with all of these airlines and not only allow interline agreements.. I honestly feel air nz could Alliance air style.. lease out These airlines aircraft that essentially sit around between 8am and 8pm and deploy them on their own network. Or could we see air nz basically giving its dash 8 fleet and route network to these airlines and focus on its ATR A320 routes.. cause that will be the next question mark.. what will happen when air nz retires its Q300s, I don't thing the ATRs will be deployed on all current Q300 routes..
It seems Air New Zealand is moving to ATR72's only on regional routes and A320/A321's on domestic jet routes using 'spoke & hub' jet/turbo prop interchange at Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, which is operationally more economical for them.
DeleteThat said, Air New Zealand could be looking at what Heart Aerospace is planning with their 30 seat ES-30 hybrid aircraft for low density intra/inter -regional low density routes as a possible replacement for the Q300's.
"NZ is still a aviation country and aviation plays such an integral part of our society.."
DeleteInternationally, yes. Domestically.. no.
The regional NZ network has been slowly dying over the last 10 years. No one is really missing it. They jump into their cars and drive.
If aviation was such a integral part of NZ society, another operator would have been sustainable in these routes. Aviation is seen as a folly for the rich in NZ.
If you want to see what aviation as a integral part of society looks like, go look at Perth. There aviation is a integral part of society. Western Australia doesn't mine or service regional western Australia without aviation. The RFDS is seen as Australian as the Wallabies...
Kris the Dash 8 operation continues to connect regional NZ with nearly 1000 flights per week. It has done so for 19 years and the airlines’ leadership has affirmed, it is intended to continue through 2030 and beyond.
DeleteThe airline’s own Dash 8 simulator is receiving upgrades later this year. Investment in the aircraft continues, cabin refits underway, flight deck avionics upgrades and other systems work is in planning.
Despite endless commentary, they’re not going anywhere.
Aviation as we have known it, is being gradually submerged under a raging sea of raising costs. This along with declining consumer and business spending, is in my opinion, the fundamental cause of air service failures. Of course, this is not just limited to aviation, these same factors are currently impacting businesses of all kinds, right across the spectrum. The wealth of New Zealand Inc. has been in decline for a long time. Just look at the dollar exchange rate, incessant increases in all manner of regulatory costs, and ever-upward creeping internal inflation. Only significant structural economic reforms can effect the needed around…and that would also take time. Meanwhile, those of us involved in aviation can only hang on and hope.
ReplyDeleteWill Originair take the risk and take over and do BHE- CHC route ? Or will it be uneconomicly viable?
ReplyDeleteDo they even have enough planes ?
DeleteUnfortunately, nothing is viable in a J32.
ReplyDelete