Kapiti News

Welcome back

Air Chathams resumes Ka¯piti to Auckland service

- David Haxton

On a grey and wet Sunday afternoon, an Air Chathams plane broke through the cloud and landed at Kapiti Coast Airport. It was a special moment.

Its arrival signalled preparatio­n for the resumption of flights between Paraparaum­u and Auckland, which started on Monday at 7am. The

Ka¯ piti-Auckland service was postponed during levels 4 and 3 of the Covid-19 health crisis but was able to resume its schedule in level 2 after various preparatio­ns had been completed.

Monday also saw the resumption of the airline’s regional North Island services. “We’re looking at 70 flights a week as opposed to the 100 flights we had been doing,” Air Chathams general manager Duane Emeny said referring to services to Whangarei, Whanganui and Paraparaum­u.

“Very happy to be in a position where we feel confident enough to restart those markets.

“We wouldn’t have been able to do that unless we had the three councils supporting us.

“It’s going to be a slow build but, actually, of the three regions, we were very pleased with Ka¯ piti in terms of forward booking and passengers carried for this week.

“Ka¯ piti was probably the best performer.”

Fourteen passengers were on the first flight out of Ka¯ piti which was a good number once social distancing requiremen­ts were factored in.

“It’s definitely good having the aeroplane back in the air.”

It would be a slow rebuild, he predicted, but there was cause for optimism when people knew flight operations were back operating and some of the Budget’s infrastruc­ture projects started in the regions.

Meanwhile, Airways NZ has announced it was to cease providing an airfield flight informatio­n service at Kapiti Coast Airport.

“We don’t see a big increase in risk as a result of not having that service there,” said Mr Emeny, citing various processes the airline had in place.

 ??  ??

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from New Zealand