Whale watch planes bridge gap

A whale watching company has pivoted to help people stranded while the two highways connecting the top of the south are out of action due to flood damage.

Wings Over Whales is a Kaiko¯ urabased company that normally takes passengers on scenic flights. But when the team realised the scale of the flood damage during charter flights for Civil Defence last weekend, they thought that some direct flights between Nelson and Blenheim would help those stranded by the highway closures.

The main route between the two centres, State Highway 6, was severely damaged by slips and flooding when an atmospheric river of rain brought a four-day deluge to Te Tauihu. The alternative route, SH63 via St Arnaud, was also damaged.

Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency says neither highway will reopen before next week.

Wings Over Whales marketing and partnerships manager Krissy Griggs said the company posted the idea on social media on Tuesday to gauge interest, and was overwhelmed by the response.

‘‘The phones haven’t stopped. We’ve had lots of inquiries, lots of demand.

‘‘There’s lots of uncertainty about when the roads will be opened. So it’s been great to be able to help.’’

The company’s GA8 Airvan has been making return trips every day this week from Omaka Aero Club to Helicopters Nelson. Griggs said this was would likely continue until one of the highways reopened, and if the demand was there.

Wings Over Whales had tried to keep the ticket price as reasonable as possible, she said, as a service to floodaffected passengers, at $200 one-way or $300 return.

Those making inquiries included young families who had become stranded in the wrong region over the weekend, businesses moving staff for work, people wanting to bring their older parents over, and even those looking to transport cats and dogs, Griggs said.

‘‘This is not our first rodeo – about five years ago now, we had the Kaiko¯ura earthquake and we just went straight into recovery mode. So for us, seeing this situation [with highway closures] again, we saw that we could help.’’

As the company already had established connections with airfields around the top of the south, it only took ‘‘a couple of phone calls’’ to set up this week’s flights, she said.

Pilot Emily Wallace said the airfield at Omaka had been very busy this week, with helicopters transporting officials around the region as well as chartered planes transporting passengers to Nelson.

Among her passengers on Wednesday was a Nelson-based farmer heading home after visiting his farm in Rai Valley, which was managed by his children but suffered extensive damage in the flooding.

Sounds Air confirmed that it would also put on direct flights yesterday and tomorrow evening.

Chief executive Andrew Crawford said he had considered putting on more direct flights between Nelson and Blenheim due to the highway closures, but he was waiting to see how Monday’s Waka Kotahi announcement went, as he thought it was possible SH63 would reopen soon.

Normally, the company did not do direct flights ‘‘because most people just drive’’, Crawford said. Passengers could also fly Blenheim to Nelson via Wellington.