Joy and relief as flights into Timaru resume
Friends and family gathered at Timaru’s Richard Pearse Airport to greet and farewell the first postlockdown passengers yesterday.
Air New Zealand resumed flights after stopping the services due to Covid19 restrictions in March.
The first Wellington-Timaru flight landed in Timaru at 12.35pm, with the return flight leaving for the capital at 1pm.
Tim Sanders, originally of Wellington but now based in Timaru, had brought his mother-in-law to the airport to collect his sister-in-law.
‘‘It’s a privilege that they’ve reopened Timaru airport. We never thought they would and as a region it is quite alienated,’’ he said.
‘‘It’s really good for the district and it’s important for my in-laws that family can easily visit.’’
Sanders’ sister-in-law, Karen Hardie, arrived yesterday after her previous trip was cancelled due to Covid-19.
She said it was a ‘‘beautiful’’ flight in over the snow-covered Southern Alps with the sun shining.
‘‘It’s good to be able to move around again and for things to feel normal,’’ she said.
Timaru resident Quentin Botha was at the airport to drop off his South African parents, Caroline and Koos Botha, who were finally able to make their way to the North Island for a repatriation flight.
‘‘It’s good for them to have a wee little visit to see the grandchildren, it’s their first visit to New Zealand,’’ he said.
‘‘It’s good they can fly from Timaru, just 10 minutes away, so I don’t have to get them up to Christchurch.’’
The couple were supposed to return on March 12, but were left stranded in Timaru when Covid-19 disrupted flights and then lockdown began.
Caroline Botha said they were pleased to be able to get home but sad to be saying goodbye to their family.
She said they had to pay about $7000 for new flights and would have to go via Wellington, Auckland and Australia before they could fly to Johannesburg.
Timaru mayor Nigel Bowen was at the airport to welcome passengers.
‘‘We are so excited to have the first flights returning to Timaru. This means so much to our greater region for both tourism and commerce,’’ he said.
Air New Zealand head of tourism and regional affairs Reuben Levermore said the resumption of the the Timaru and Taupo routes yesterday means the national carrier is operating all 20 domestic services that were available preCovid-19.
‘‘Restarting [the] routes today is great news for these towns and their wider regions, and we hope locals get behind these services.
‘‘Initially we will operate three return services a week on both routes on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. From 6 July this will increase to nine return services per week on both our Taupo¯ and Timaru routes,’’ Levermore said.