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<\/p>\nAll routes lead to Norfolk Island.<\/p>\n
Air Chathams’ return to the Norfolk Island route today marks the first time in 15 months that New Zealanders have been able to fly direct to the Australian territory.<\/p>\n
And Air New Zealand announced today that it has extended its agreement with the Australian Government to operate flights between Norfolk Island and Australia fromAugust 30 for two years.<\/p>\n
Under the agreement, Air New Zealand will use its A320 aircraft to operate up to three flights per week from Brisbane and three flights from Sydney.<\/p>\n
Air New Zealand chief operating officer Carrie Hurihanganui says the airline will establish a temporary pilot and cabin crew base in Brisbane untilNovember 30 to ensure potential disruptions to the travel bubble will not affect continuity of services to Norfolk Island.<\/p>\n
Before the transtasman bubble opened in April, crew operating domestic flights in Australia were required to have been in that countryfor 14 days or to have arrived in Australia on a quarantine-free flight.<\/p>\n
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This resulted in the airline having to suspend services between Norfolk Island and mainland Australia in February.<\/p>\n
“Having crew based in Australia will ensure we avoid disruption should the Australian border close again,” says Hurihanganui.<\/p>\n
Air Chathams will make the round trip from Auckland every Thursday carrying up to 30 passengers, increasing the frequency to twice a week in August.<\/p>\n
Auckland Airport’s general manager aeronautical commercial, Scott Tasker, says it is great to see the airline restart a regular service through to Norfolk Island.<\/p>\n
Covid-19 had halted the fledgling service early last year.<\/p>\n
“Regionally focused airlines like Air Chathams have played a critical role in keeping New Zealand communities connected over the past year, particularly those domestic airfreight connections that allowed fresh, high-quality New Zealand produce to get out to overseas markets,” says Tasker.<\/p>\n
“The Norfolk Island service not only creates another opportunity for travellers to discover a new destination, but also keeps the local community connected for freight and any essential travel.”<\/p>\n
Hurihanganui says Air NZ has been operating between Australia and Norfolk Island since 2012, and was the only airline operating scheduled services between the island and mainland Australia during 2020.<\/p>\n
“We’d like to thank Qantas for stepping in to operate the route over the past few months to ensure continuity of flights for our customers.”<\/p>\n
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Air Chathams’ services join other new services out of Auckland Airport launched since transtasman quarantine-free travel opened in mid-April, including Air NZ’s new twice-weekly service to Hobart, Qantas flying to the Gold Coast four to seven times a week, and a Qantas service to Cairns up to three times a week for the winter months.<\/p>\n
Tasker says these are important steps on New Zealand’s path to safely reopening to other countries, particularly in the Pacific.<\/p>\n
He says transtasman cargo connections are also benefiting from more frequent services.<\/p>\n
“If you look back to this time last year, sometimes we saw only one passenger flight a day on the transtasman. Now there’s an average of 12 a day flying between Auckland and Australian destinations.”<\/p>\n
Although passenger aircraft flying cargo-only filled the gap in airfreight demand, having quarantine-free travel has added about 17 per cent more cargo capacity across the Tasman, he says.<\/p>\n