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Post by area51 on Apr 28, 2015 11:17:53 GMT 12
Final flights have come and gone from their respective regional towns. Guess keep an eye on the TV news tonight for a snippet? Also keep a lookout on the 3rd Level NZ blog as this will be featuring coverage. www.3rdlevelnz.blogspot.co.nzAir Chathams Convair 580 ZK-CIE departed Auckland shortly afternoon 9am today for Whakatane signalling the commencement of their operation between the two centres. Sounds Air PC12 ZK-PLS is set to position from Woodbourne to Wellington early this afternoon for the start of their operation to/from Westport. Sounds Air have also announced their intention to fly between Wellington and Taupo when PC12 number two is introduced to their operation. Another thread is running on the Auckland-Kaitaia route which was vacated by Eagle Air this morning and the introduction of Great Barrier Airlines on the run from tomorrow. A Caravan is slated to be used for the run however to the best of my knowledge its delivery is still pending so I'd expect Chieftain ZK-RDT will be used for its speed and capacity.
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Post by kiwithrottlejockey on May 20, 2015 23:25:33 GMT 12
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Post by Peter Lewis on Jul 30, 2017 19:55:27 GMT 12
Business travellers often needed same-day return flights and with Air New Zealand introducing bigger aircraft there were likely to be fewer services and less convenient times from centres such as Hokitika, Gisborne, Whangarei, Rotorua, Palmerston North, Blenheim and Timaru.
Just booked an AirNZ Flight Auckland to Hokitika and return, mid-August. $603 thank you very much. Ouch !!
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Post by keroburner on Jul 30, 2017 20:08:22 GMT 12
Almost worth hiring a Cessna 152. Almost.....
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Post by lumpy on Jul 30, 2017 20:39:26 GMT 12
Business travellers often needed same-day return flights and with Air New Zealand introducing bigger aircraft there were likely to be fewer services and less convenient times from centres such as Hokitika, Gisborne, Whangarei, Rotorua, Palmerston North, Blenheim and Timaru.Just booked an AirNZ Flight Auckland to Hokitika and return, mid-August. $603 thank you very much. Ouch !! Spent almost $800 to travel Blenheim to Christchurch and back recently. It was somewhat an emergency, ( was there less than 4 hours after finding out that I needed to go ) Money wasn't really a consideration, but it was really expensive!
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Post by kiwithrottlejockey on Jul 30, 2017 22:18:39 GMT 12
Business travellers often needed same-day return flights and with Air New Zealand introducing bigger aircraft there were likely to be fewer services and less convenient times from centres such as Hokitika, Gisborne, Whangarei, Rotorua, Palmerston North, Blenheim and Timaru.Just booked an AirNZ Flight Auckland to Hokitika and return, mid-August. $603 thank you very much. Ouch !! If you wish to fly to or from places like Hokitika, it pays to get in many, many months ahead to get cheap fares. Anyway, I've worked out something with regards to Air NZ. When they open a flight for booking 350 days before the departure of the flight, the very first seat sold goes dirt cheap, but only on that very first day. And that covers all four fare classes, but only the very first seat booked gets that cheap price. For example, I booked to fly to Queenstown for Warbirds Over Wanaka 2018 at 12:01am exactly 350 days before the Thursday at the start of Easter weekend I wish to travel. I scored a Flexi-Plus seat for $89 from Wellington to Queenstown. A few days later, I hit Air NZ's booking website at 12:01am exactly 350 days before the Tuesday at the end of Easter weekend and likewise scored a $89 Flexi-Plus seat from Queenstown to Wellington. The very next day, those Flexi-Plus seats had risen to $159. I worked out how their system works by watching it over a long period of time and making spoof bookings without actually going through with it to the point of paying. But you've got to be able to plan 350+ days ahead to take advantage of those dirt cheap seats (one per flight) on the day bookings open for that flight.
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Post by Peter Lewis on Jul 31, 2017 19:42:25 GMT 12
I guess I am old enough and bitter enough to sense an underlying agenda.
If ANZ really want to get out of such places as Hokitika (and Wanganui, and Masterton) they charge a Kings Ransom for the seats, few people buy them, and then they can claim that there is no demand and depart from the route.
It would actually be a sh**load cheaper for me to fly to Christchurch (dare I mention Jetstar?) and then hire a car to drive over the alps to the wet coast. However, in this instance, that option is not available, so it's deep pocket time.
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Post by kiwithrottlejockey on Jul 31, 2017 22:26:14 GMT 12
Well, in the case of Masterton, the flights had extremely high load factors.
I flew between Masterton and Auckland (and vice-versa) on several occasions and most of the flights were full.
Some of them had one vacant seat, and on two occasions, there were two vacant seats.
Yet Air New Zealand claimed they were losing money, which was the reason they pulled the plug (even though a year earlier, they were claiming that the Masterton service was doing extremely well). This tells me that one of two things was the actual truth....either Air NZ were deliberately undercharging and running the services at a loss and lying to Wairarapa folks about it a year before they axed the services; or else the REAL reason they wanted to axe the service was because of the impending retirement of the B1900 aircraft, but Air NZ were too deceitful to tell the truth, so deliberately LIED to Wairarapa folks. In either case, it isn't a good look when a company tells LIES to their customers.
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Post by Naki on Jul 31, 2017 22:58:05 GMT 12
Ok we get it. You hate Air NZ. You have said the same storey so many times about the Masterton service. I'm tired reading about it. Move on
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Post by Dave Homewood on Aug 1, 2017 0:19:40 GMT 12
I don't think any of the airline services that have picked up the routes that Air New Zealand dropped are any cheaper than they were before. The prices of some of the routes on the smaller airlines are bloody steep in fact.
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Post by delticman on Aug 1, 2017 7:50:41 GMT 12
I don't think any of the airline services that have picked up the routes that Air New Zealand dropped are any cheaper than they were before. The prices of some of the routes on the smaller airlines are bloody steep in fact. Ten years ago, Eagle were charging a flat rate of around $110 each way when ever your booked. When the Q300's arrived the fares would be up and down but often less than the Beech 1800D's. I guess the business folk on late arrivals would pay over $200 each way but on those flight's, the customer does not pay. I found it annoying coming from Australia you would have a boarding pass and seat when you left but by the time you checked the bag in Auckland, the flight had evaporated. In the meantime they filled up New Plymouth flights with WAG passengers. Going back to 1900D days, they would get Air National Jetstreams as a 1900D replacement. Now after a year of fine service, Air Chathams have a constant fare of below $100 (unless you turn up on the day.) So if it get's busy on the day you want, they just do a bigger aircraft. (or a smaller one). As Air New Zealand didn't want Wanganui, Air Chats's could charge more but they certainly have a different approach to passengers and often have weekend specials for locals and Aucklanders. What could be better that tea or coffee with Tim Tams.
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