More from Brisbane

A sister ship to what I was in... Virgin Australia Boeing 737-800 at Brisbane on 6 April 2018

Another Boeing 737-800, Tigerair's VH-YUD

A desperation shot of McDonnell Douglas MD-82's VP-CBH and VH-CBI

Southern Courier - Aerial Charter (Southland)

Aerial Charter (Southland) Ltd was incorporated as a private limited liability company in Christchurch on the 13th of November 1975. The five shareholder/directors, G M Orbell, A N Eccles, N J Robertson, A C Mitchell and G B Orbell, the "Piper Comanche Partnership", owned Piper PA39 Twin Comanche ZK-ECS for their own private use as well as hiring out the aircraft to training organisations for advanced flying instruction and for private charter.

In 1976 the new company applied for an air service licence to operate an Air Charter and Air Taxi Service from Invercargill to any licensed aerodrome in New Zealand using the Piper Twin Comanche. Several local companies and individuals submitted evidence letters of support and public interest. Supporting evidence also claimed that local sporting, farming and cultural groups members wished to travel to areas not served by scheduled airlines. The company was duly granted its air services Licence on the 10th of June 1976 with the service shall commence not later than 1 July 1976. 

By September 1976 Aerial Charter (Southland) Ltd had inaugurated a weekday Invercargill-Dunedin-Christchurch freight service on behalf of Airfast Freight Ltd, which leased Aerial Charter's Twin Comanche. This service was usually flown by company pilot Jeff Sly. A connection was made with Capital Air Services’ courier services at Christchurch. During the weekend the Twin Comanche was available for general charter work. However, the courier service was short-lived and had ended by the 31st of March 1977. At that date the aircraft had flown 523.7 hours and carried 211 passengers and 47,856kg of freight. 

Air Charter (Southland)'s Piper Pa39 Twin Comanche at Timaru on 29 February 1979

With the service ended the company applied to temporarily replace the Twin Comanche with a Cessna 185. The aircraft in question was operated by Hollyford Air Travel and due to the seasonal nature of Hollyford Air's business in Northern Fiordland the aircraft was not required by that company until the spring. On the 1st of May 1978 the Licensing Authority approved an amendment of the company’s licence by deleting the Twin Comanche in favour of the addition of a Beech Baron, ZK-SUN, to the fleet.  

  

In November 1978 Aerial Charter (Southland) successfully returned to the Air Services Licensing Authority seeking permission to add a Cessna 177 Cardinal, ZK-DRC, to their fleet to "exclusively for work contracted by Hollyford Tourist and Travel Company Ltd". 

However, without the regular courier service there was no real demand for the company’s charter and air taxi services and these ceased in 1981. On the 29th of  November 1982 Aerial Charter (Southland)’s licence was revoked. 

Fokker Jets

Yesterday, 6 April 2018, was a real day for Fokker jets for me... 7 photos and my first flight on a Fokker 70...

At Brisbane Alliance Airlines' Fokker 100 VH-JFB was giving way to us...

Alliance Airlines' Fokker 100 VH-FGB was on push back - wearing a 90th anniversary of Sr Charles Kingsford Smith's Trans Pacific flight

At Port Moresby were Air Niugini's Fokker 100s P2-AND (above) and P2-ANF (below)

and Fokker 70s P2-ANT (above) and P2-ANU (below)

And my ride to Mount Hagen, Fokker 70 P2-ANV at Mount Hagen

I will never complain about Hamilton traffic again...

Talk about horrendous... trying to get to the Auckland International viewing park yesterday from the city... gridlock!

So late in the late with variable conditions but one or two nice pics...

Air Chathams Saab 340 ZK-KRA

Air New Zealand Boeing 787-9 ZK-NZF

Air New Zealand Boeing 777-300 ZK-OKM

Air New Zealand Boeing 777-300 ZK-OKP

Barrier Air Cessna Grand Caravan ZK-SDB

Fly My Sky BN Islander ZK-SFK

Jetstar Bombardier Q300 VH-TQK

Virgin Australia Boeing 737-800 VH-VOR

Sunair - Comments on the Grounding and Future Plans

Sunair Aviation has won the right to fly again after being grounded for six months. Owner Dan Power said the lengthy time out of the air had cost the airline "millions" and it could be several months more before it could resume full passenger services because of an acute pilot shortage. The company will recommence daily flights between Whangarei and Kaitaia, Hamilton and Tauranga on April 21 but difficulty recruiting at least four pilots would delay resumption of flights between Hamilton, Tauranga, Rotorua and Gisborne. Power is  upset about the time it took the Civil Aviation Authority to work through maintenance and other issues which he said should never had resulted in suspension of the airline's air operators certificate, and the certificate of airworthiness for its fleet of 13 aircraft. Sunair says the pilot shortage will make it difficult to resume full services following a lengthy grounding by the Civil Aviation Authority. "It's been a long winded affair to return to the skies and the down time has been expensive for the company." "I complained to the authority that they were not working with us in a timely fashion but they are of the view that they were, and did all they could." Irene King, part of a group of aviation consultants who worked unpaid with Sunair to help them get back flying, is also critical of CAA's handling of the case. "We didn't get a response to letters, we got told that staff are not available, they're on leave, they're too busy. "We've got a pretty good idea of what unsafe looks like, but we've not been able to see anything of any significance or substance anywhere and we have been over it [Sunair​] for months." CAA deputy director of air transport Mark Hughes is adamant that Sunair's suspension was warranted due to safety concerns which arose during a comprehensive audit and subsequent investigation of the company's operations. He said those concerns had been addressed by a change of senior management, improved maintenance control procedures, rectification of aircraft airworthiness deficiencies and improved management systems. 

For the full article see : https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/102828064/sunair-wins-right-to-fly-again-but-says-lengthy-grounding-cost-millions

Sunair Rises

This from the Sunair Facebook page

Hi Everyone.

We are excited to announce that Sunair are now operational again. We look forward to carrying our regulars and new customers as soon as we are up and running.

We want to thank everyone for their patience over the past 203 days, who's been counting!! It would have been a much harder task to be operational again, if it wasn't for the huge support we have been offered from everyone who has been affected by the closure. Kudos to our colleagues within the industry who have been behind us 100% throughout this journey.

We look forward to taking bookings in the very near future, we need a little time to organise pilots and schedules!

Further updates to follow!

Kind Regards
The team at Sunair

Flying to a town near you...

Smaller airlines are in the wings ready to swoop if Air New Zealand ditches more regional routes, and the national carrier is getting the hard word to help third tier operators that step up when it bows out. Chathams Air has already expressed an interest in taking over the Kapiti to Auckland service from Air New Zealand which ended on Tuesday. Sounds Air and Barrier Air both are eager to expand further but were tight lipped about the destinations they were eyeing up. Sounds Air's Pilatus PC12 service from Westport has been a hit with local mayor Garry Howard, but he wants Air NZ to sign an interline agreement to ease the way for passengers. Having already taken on services between Wellington, Westport and Taupo, and between Blenheim and Christchurch, Sounds Air chief executive Andrew Crawford said they were looking at what other routes Air New Zealand could pull out of.  "We're not looking to compete head to head with Air New Zealand or Jet Star, we just haven't got the ability." After a bumpy start Barrier Air cut back from three return flights a day between Kaitaia and Auckland to just one, but chief executive Nick Pearson said business was building and the airline wanted to expand into other regional areas. "We've learned some lessons from Kaitaia and we're very excited if the right thing comes up". Aviation consultant Irene King believes Air New Zealand may reconsider its Auckland Whangarei service during the day, and said it could opt to pull out altogether. The service has been the focus of complaints about flight cancellations, particularly on Friday nights, and King said the larger airline also faced constraints on loadings during certain weather conditions. "It's about the economics of smaller airlines carrying less overheads, they have older aircraft which are not as fuel efficient, but on the other hand, they don't have the high capital costs associated with them." Third tier operators were also eager to get an interline agreement with Air New Zealand so passengers could check their bags all the way through if they were catching connecting flights. An earlier Sounds Air request for an interline deal was turned down but Crawford said they had not given up on the idea. "Two or three years ago, yes the technology wasn't there, whereas we've certainly got it now." Buller District mayor Garry Howard said he was very happy with Sounds Air's service between Westport and Wellington. It ran at much more convenient times compared with the previous Air New Zealand timetable which meant passengers had to spend two nights away to get a full day in the capital. "It turned a one day event into a three day episode. Now I can leave at 6.15am and I'm in Wellington at 7am … I can attend anything I like and be back for tea that night." However, he said the lack of an interline agreement was inconvenient and Air NZ would gain a competitive advantage by making it easier for passengers to check their bags through, "Air New Zealand has lost its status as our national carrier because it's not a provincial service provider, it has decided to it's a volume provider out of the cities and I personally believe they will regret this." Sounds Air's service between Wellington and Taupo, which it took over from Air New Zealand, is so popular Taupo mayor David Trewavas said they might need to look at increasing the service or using a larger aircraft than the 9 seat Pilatus PC12. "It goes higher and faster than Air New Zealand. It's just like a corporate jet, 40 minutes and we're in Wellington." But he agreed with Howard that the inability to use Koru lounges or to check luggage through was an inconvenience customers could do without.  Air New Zealand said it did not have any interline agreements in place with domestic carriers. Such agreements tended to be between large international long haul carriers that were able to easily meet the significant requirements including, for example, having compatible booking systems, said the airline.

Source : https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/102643448/smaller-airlines-will-swoop-in-if-air-new-zealand-quits-more-regional-routes

I wish they would get the name right... Air Chathams... NOT Chathams Air

Air New Zealand does codeshare with Air Rarotonga for flights between Rarotonga and Aitutaki. Air Rarotonga operate a Saab 340 (the same as Air Chathams use) on this route