Jetstar to Invercargill and Dunedin???

Source : http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/126859/jetstar-has-dunedin-radar 

Southern cities Dunedin and Invercargill are firmly on Jetstar's radar, as the budget airline launches an aggressive expansion phase in New Zealand following the departure of Pacific Blue.Jetstar group chief executive Bruce Buchanan told the Otago Daily Times yesterday Dunedin, Invercargill, Hamilton, Rotorua, and Nelson were all domestic destinations "on our list".He confirmed the airline had been involved in preliminary discussions with Dunedin International Airport, and for any proposed route it was important "to have the community and airport right behind us".The company was busy expanding its domestic, transtasman and international routes, but it was possible more domestic destinations could be added before the 2011 Rugby World Cup, he said.Yesterday the Qantas-owned airline announced it would boost services between Queenstown, Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland by 39 flights a week."These new services build upon Jetstar's growing competitive proposition on New Zealand's high-traffic routes, providing a platform for future growth and new destinations," Mr Buchanan said.The growth for the airline was underpinned by the positioning of two A320 aircraft in New Zealand by early 2011, which will result in the airline operating 116 weekly return flights.Extra Auckland-Queenstown flights would be available before Christmas. Services are to be increased to 11 flights a week.News of the expansion comes after Pacific Blue announced it was withdrawing from the New Zealand domestic market by October 18, which included the end of its Queenstown and Dunedin services this week.Jetstar also announced sale fares on some main routes. University of Otago Centre for Air Transport Research director Dr David Duval said Jetstar was at present flying main routes, but would look at the domestic withdrawal of Pacific Blue as an opportunity. One advantage for airline companies was that their assets were mobile and they "could move them at will". Dunedin International Airport chief executive John McCall could not be reached for comment yesterday. 

With Dunedin, Invercargill, Hamilton, Rotorua, and Nelson on the radar does this mean turboprops for Jetstar???

More Jetstars!

Source :  http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/4134926/Jetstar-boosts-domestic-capacity

Budget airline Jetstar will ramp up its domestic services by 50 per cent from February with the addition of two new Airbus A320 jets.The move follows the departure of fellow budget competitor Pacific Blue which will leaves the domestic market next month.Qantas-owned Jetstar will increase weekly return flights between Auckland and Christchurch from 35 to 49 and between Auckland and Wellington from 21 a week to 35 a week.There will also be additional frequencies between Auckland and Queenstown and Wellington and Christchurch.Air New Zealand has also said it would increase capacity, including gradually replacing its Boeing 737-300 fleet with larger A320s.Jetstar chief executive Bruce Buchanan said the increases would boost Jetstar’s domestic market share to about 17 per cent."It is getting up to the point where we have got some relevancy in the market place, and that is good for the travelling public and it provides a viable alternative in terms of frequency now," Mr Buchanan said.That would provide a platform for future growth and destinations, he said.Jetstar has previously announced some additional trans-Tasman services from April.It will be the first airline to offer budget long-haul flights out of New Zealand when it begins direct daily services from Auckland to Singapore in March.

Holiday Plane Spotting 4

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On maintenance at Palmerston North at Air Freight was Air Chathams Convair 580, ZK-CIF, on the 9th of September 2010. While on holiday I waded through "the Chatham Islander" at the Napier Library and so will I write a post on Air Chathams' Convairs in the near future. Photo : S Lowe

Over-daying at Palmerston North on the 9th of September 2010 was NZ Post's night flyer, Fokker Friendship, ZK-NAO. Photo : S Lowe

Once a scheduled airline... Taupo Air Service's Cessna 206 ZK-TAM at Taupo on 10 September 2010. Photo : S Lowe

See : http://3rdlevelnz.blogspot.com/2010/03/taupo-air-services.html

Once an airliner... a rather sad looking photo of ex Air  Chathams Beech Queen Air, ZK-CIA at Hastings on 3 September 2010. Photo : S Lowe 

See : http://3rdlevelnz.blogspot.com/2010/06/beeches-of-air-chathams.html

A couple more from at Auckland...

Garden City Air Exec's Beech Super King Air, ZK-FDR, at Auckland on 21 June 2010. The charter operation has obviously been around for a while. Photo : W Grant

A nice view of Great Barrier's Red Baron (or have you a more apt name?) Trislander ZK-LGF in Auckland on 13 September 2010. Photo : W Grant

Further to a previous post

Wayne Grant provides this shot of LGC and LGF at Auckland today.

Great Barrier Airlines News

Great Barrier Airlines "new" Britten Norman Trislander, ZK-LGF, was observed on a flight from Great Barrier to Auckland yesterday... see also http://3rdlevelnz.blogspot.com/2010/07/trislander-zk-lgf-registered.html

Other Great Barrier Airlines news is that the compnay will operate flights between Whangarei and Great Barrier Island at Labour weekend and during December, January and February. The flights operate on Fridays and Sundays.

Goldfields Air - Alexandra's Airline

In 1980 Goldfields Aviation Ltd (later Goldfields Air Ltd) and its principal Mr Murray Cresswell first applied to the Air Services Licensing Authority (ASLA) for an air services licence for air charter, air taxi, scenic flights and joy rides from Alexandra as well as a scheduled air service between Alexandra and Christchurch with one Piper PA-23-250 Aztec F aircraft. At a public hearing on 10 December 1980 the application was declined by the ASLA as the Aztec considered unsuitable for the service. The aircraft did not have turbo-charged engines and thus did not have the single-engine performance capability for the route and it was also was it is not fitted with the full de-icing equipment required. 

In January 1981 Westland Flying Service’s Cessna 402 ZK-DHW flew into Alexandra on demonstration to Goldfields Air. Following this visit an application was made to the ASLA for a non-scheduled Alexandra-Christchurch service using a Cessna 402. The application, which was heard on the 17th of March 1981, was unsuccessful. 

Cessna 402 ZK-DHW at Alexandra in January 1981. The 402 had flown a film grew from Hokitika to Christchurch in the morning and then flew to Dunedin for maintenance. It then flew to Alexandra before returning to Hokitika. I know because I was on board.  Central Otago News, 20 January 1981

A third application was made in December 1981 for a service using a PA32-300 Lance. Piper PA32R-300 Cherokee Lance ZK-EIB had been registered to Goldfields Air on the 15th of October 1981. This application, too, was unsuccessful and the Lance’s ownership was changed on the 11th of February 1982. 

Goldfields Air finally gained an air service licence in 1985. Murray Cresswell flew his Beechcraft V35A Bonanza, ZK-EDJ (c/n D-9224), to Alexandra on the 10th of April 1985. The Central Otago News reported Murray Cresswell saying, he has already had a number of bookings. Flights to Christchurch will leave Alexandra about 8.30 a.m. and return at 10.30 a.m. If there is sufficient demand, Mr Cresswell said it is likely he will provide two return trips a day.

Beech V35B Bonanza, ZK-EDJ, taken at Christchurch on 21 January 1985.

Central Otago News, 11 April 1985

Non-scheduled passenger services began on the 18th of April with the chief shareholder, Murray Cresswell, being the company’s chief pilot. Goldfields Air initially offered a Sunday to Friday service with Saturday flights being available by prior arrangement. The aircraft was based at Alexandra and on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays a morning service was flown to Christchurch and back. On Wednesdays and Fridays the Bonanza stayed at Christchurch for the day leaving at 3.30pm, making a day's business in Christchurch possible. On Sundays the Bonanza flew an afternoon service to Christchurch and return. On 1 August 1985 the timetable was changed to fly daily. The new timetable also included a “whistle stop” at Wanaka as required. From this point on Wanaka continued to be listed in the company's timetables as a pick up and set down point on the Alexandra timetable.

Central Otago News, 18 April 1985

Goldfields Air's Beech Bonanza ZK-EDJ on a service to Christchurch on the 3rd of June 1985

 Information Sheet No 1 - Goldfields Air's first timetable, April 1985

The company had always intended to operate an IFR scheduled service and so imported a Piper Pa31-310 Navajo, VH-TRP previously used by the Victorian state premier from Australia. 

Piper Pa31 Navajo ZK-JGA shortly after arriving from Australia on 16 October 1985 wearing its Australian registration VH-TRP

The Navajo, placed on the New Zealand register as ZK-JGA (c/n 31-7612102), arrived in Alexandra on the 10th of December 1985 and it was introduced to the Alexandra-Wanaka-Christchurch service with Neil Abbott as the pilot.

Pictured at the Alexandra-Clyde aerodrome in front of the aircraft were (from left).—Vincent County Councillor Graham White, Goldfields Air operations manager and pilot Colin Taylor, and Civil Aviation inspector Ritchie de Montalk. Central Otago News, 12 December 1985

Goldfields Air's Piper Navajo ZK-JGA and Beech Bonanza ZK-EDJ at Alexandra on 5 January 1986

Timetable Effective 1 January 1986

 

On the 2nd of April 1986 the company moved its base to Christchurch and inaugurated a morning Christchurch-Wellington return service before operating a Christchurch-Alexandra-Queenstown-Christchurch service. Despite Gerald Shirtcliff, the company’s managing director, advocating a fare $ 14 less than Air New Zealand’s normal fare and the aircraft’s leather seats, the reality was the company had to compete against Boeing 737s. Following the flight to Wellington the Navajo flew to Queenstown and Alexandra, again stopping at Wanaka as required. 

The timetable for the Wellington service effective 2 April 1986... Can you spot the typo???

 

Goldfields Air's Piper Navajo ZK-JGA at Christchurch 9 April 1986.

The following month, on the 1st of May 1986, Goldfields Air launched a twice daily Christchurch-Nelson service. The service was short-lived, however, and the company encountered liquidity problems and suddenly ceased its services on the 29th of July 1986. The collapse of Goldfields Air came close on the heels of the failure of air Albatross and the withdrawal of Wairarapa Airlines on the Nelson-Christchurch sector. At that time Goldfields Air’s Nelson agent, Mr Winston Williamson of the Nelson Travel Agency Ltd, told the Nelson Evening Mail, "It is very easy to start an airline and very easy to stop an airline but it is very hard to do the bits in between."

 The final timetable... including the Nelson service. 

Garden City Air Exec - New Player in the Air Charter Business

Blue Bus sent me the picture below of Garden City's Beech Super King Air ZK-FDR with Garden City Air Exec titles. Their website gives a little more info...

Charter Flights - We'll fly you there in style.

Whether it's a fishing trip to one of Canterbury's secluded lakes, glacier skiing in the Southern Alps, taking a VIP group to a luxury high country resort, arriving in style at a concert venue or transporting staff to a weekend conference, you can trust Garden City's Charter Flight operations to get you there in safety, style and comfort. Think about organising a team building exercise, staff incentives, impressing an overseas guest or a romantic getaway. Now, with the addition of our luxury fixed-wing Super King Air 200c aircraft, we can fly your group in style and comfort, from airport to airport around the country - and we can do it to suit your schedule, not an airline's !

The website, one of the best I have seen, in very interesting and in particular the "Track Aircraft" is well worth a look http://www.helicopters.net.nz/K/helicopters-aeroplanes-aircraft-planes/_I.94

ZK-FDR at Christchurch on 3 September 2010. The next challenge for Photoshop... getting rid of wire netting fences. Photo : Blue Bus

To those in Christchurch...

I have been away on my annual retreat all week so no computer, phone or news and have just been catching up on the news and the destruction the earthquake caused...  My thoughts and prayers are with Christchurch and hope you and yours are okay.

Steve

Smelly Diversion

Source : http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/125185/sky-high-stink-still-mystery

Smelly luggage may have forced a flight from Invercargill to Christchurch to divert to Dunedin in the second incident involving a mysterious smell on an Air New Zealand Christchurch-Invercargill service. The ATR72 carrying 43 passengers landed without incident at Dunedin International Airport after a malodorous smell was detected in the cabin high in the sky above Otago on Monday. Its source was still unknown: the smell dissipated before engineers carried out their inspection, airline spokeswoman Lara Harrison confirmed yesterday. The ATR's hold was behind the galley, so the smell may have come from baggage stowed there. The aircraft was cleaned to eliminate whatever caused the smell before returning to service. The incident followed another on July 9, when a burning smell forced a Mount Cook Airlines ATR72 to divert to Dunedin. The aircraft, which was carrying 53 passengers, landed safely. Ms Harrison yesterday described the smell as "an electrical burning smell" but confirmed its source was still unknown. Air New Zealand, which owns Mount Cook Airlines, had no plans to check all its ATR72s in light of both smell-related incidents, she said. Neither did it want to remind passengers to be careful what they packed in their luggage.

Shake Rattle and Roll into Wellington

Source : http://www.gisborneherald.co.nz/article/?id=19204

A flight from Wellington to Gisborne has been described by a passenger as the most “traumatic” he has experienced in 38 years... but Air New Zealand say the passengers were not in danger. Terrifying conditions out of Wellington airport have been confirmed by passengers on the same plane on its return flight that left half an hour after landing at Gisborne on Sunday evening. In both cases, lack of warning or reassurance from the crew has been criticised. The Beech 1900D aircraft left Wellington at about 3.45pm on Sunday afternoon bound for Gisborne and passenger, former deputy mayor David Scott, described it as “rough as dogs” from take-off. “We flew out over the harbour and it was tossing around quite normally, as it does in Wellington. But then above Mt Victoria, we got into an air pocket, then hit a wind shear,” he said. The plane turned violently . . . “as you can imagine, inside the plane people were screaming at the top of their voices,” he said. “Money and phones were flying out of people’s bags, and the baggage getting thrown around in the back sounded like a concrete mixer. One lady in the front cried the whole way through and there was a woman with a baby that was very distressed. It was traumatic.” The rest of the flight was calm and Mr Scott said he was surprised that one of the crew did not come through at any point to see how the passengers were. “They must have known by the screaming that the passengers were scared. Most people have never experienced anything like that and I would have expected more understanding and attention to the people on the plane. When we got into Gisborne, I told him it was an awful piece of flying and the pilot said that was the ‘interesting stuff’.” Mr Scott intends to write to Air New Zealand about the “cavalier attitude” of the pilots. Air New Zealand spokeswoman Andrea Dale said she spoke to the pilots and they announced to passengers before take-off they expected some turbulence that was not usual for Wellington. “At approximately 600ft the aircraft experienced some strong turbulence with the only notable change being the aircraft tilted to the left by approximately 15 degrees. “The crew continued the ascent and once out of the turbulence at 1000ft, informed the passengers that they were through the turbulence and visually checked passengers were OK,” she said. “The safety of passengers and crew is of paramount importance so if the pilots felt there was any concern they would have returned to Wellington. We will respond directly to any formal complaints we receive.” • Mr Scott’s criticism is echoed by a Gisborne university student who was among “terrified” passengers on the return flight to Wellington. “The plane went berserk over Cook Strait. The dark made it worse — you could not see how high we were. We were hitting air pockets. One moment you could see the runway lights, then we would skid sideways.” “I tried to keep a level head, telling myself ‘this is Wellington’ but passengers were screaming and shouting, luggage and doors were banging. “A man behind me was in the emergency crash position.” “I have had unnerving flights before but I was a mess this time. “I was jelly after we landed”. Well used to flying, she was amazed at the lack of warning other than to prepare themselves for turbulence, and the lack of acknowledgement after landing. “The crew did not say enough. “They should have warned people and they should have reassured us afterwards,” she said. “Others I spoke to afterwards were amazed we flew in those conditions. In weather that bad, we need larger planes.”

Holiday Plane Spotting 4

More research at Wairoa today then on to Napier... Just the one photo.

 Reims/Cessna F406 Caravan II ZK-XLF (c/n 0057) at Napier on 2 September 2010 registered to Kiwi Air of Gisborne. Covers :-( : Photo : S Lowe

Tomorrow around Napier and Hastings....

ZK-CNS - The Report

The TAIC report for Great Barrier Airline's Piper Cherokee 6 incident lasy year is out... The abstract is printed below, the link below that.

Source : http://www.taic.org.nz/ReportsandSafetyRecs/AviationReports/tabid/78/ctl/Detail/mid/482/InvNumber/2009-007/language/en-US/Default.aspx

At about 1305 on 29 September 2009, ZK-CNS, a Piper Cherokee 6, took off from runway 28 at Great Barrier Aerodrome for a scheduled 30-minute flight to Auckland International Airport. On board were 5 passengers and the pilot. The aeroplane was near its maximum authorised weight, and when it lifted off it encountered a wind shift at a critical time that caused a loss of lift. The wind shift, along with the pilot?s premature retraction of flap, prevented the aeroplane reaching sufficient speed to climb before it struck vegetation. The pilot consequently lost control of the aeroplane and it stalled into a swampy area about 700 metres from the end of the runway. The pilot and one passenger received moderate injuries and the other 4 occupants received minor injuries. The aeroplane was destroyed. The selection of runway offered limited options for any escape manoeuvre if there were a loss of aeroplane performance for any reason. No new safety issues have been identified that have not already been documented and widely recognised throughout the aviation industry.

ZK-CNS in happier days, taxiing out at North Shore on the 29th of January 2009. Photo : S Lowe

Holiday Plane Spotting 3

Gisborne-Wairoa today... a lot of rain at Gisborne and not many planes at Wairoa... however the research at the Wairoa Museum was great...

The one plane photo of the day, Air Napier's Piper Cherokee 6 ZK-ELK arrives at Wairoa from Gisborne as the sun disappears behind the western hills. Photo : S Lowe

More Flights to the Regions

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/4080037/Air-NZ-boosts-capacity 

Travellers between Tauranga and Christchurch, and between Invercargill and Wellington, are the big winners in Air New Zealand's latest boost to domestic capacity. The airline today said more than 9500 additional seats per week were being added across its regional network and main jet routes, as signs appeared of an anticipated recovery in demand for domestic travel. New flight schedules were on sale from today and were for travel from early February. Flights between Christchurch and Tauranga were increasing from five to 11 return services a week. Group general manager Australasia Bruce Parton said the extra flights at peak times were a response to customer feedback, and would provide for same-day travel by business travellers. Capacity between Invercargill and Wellington was up 63 percent, with direct flights between the two centres rising from once a day to double daily on weekdays. The additional services meant Air New Zealand was reducing journey time by at least 45 minutes each way, as passengers would not need to transit in Christchurch, Mr Parton said. A Sunday service was also being added to the New Plymouth to Christchurch routes, while use of a larger aircraft meant capacity increases on services between Palmerston North and Auckland, Napier and Auckland, and Palmerston North and Christchurch. Changes were also being made to services between Queenstown and Christchurch, with flight times being adjusted to enable additional connections with trans-Tasman services out of Christchurch, Air New Zealand said. The increases come on top of announcements in the past few weeks of an additional 8 percent capacity increase for Palmerston North, 5 percent for New Plymouth and 40 percent increase in flights for Wanaka. Last week Air New Zealand announced it would be increasing domestic jet capacity by 8 percent progressively from September. Among the increases Auckland-Wellington capacity would go up by 9 percent and Auckland-Christchurch by 10.4 percent. Further capacity would also be available with the arrival of the first new A320 aircraft from February next year and would see direct Dunedin-Auckland services increase by 46 percent from 13 to 19 per week, and Auckland-Queenstown capacity rise by 13.6 percent, the airline said.