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Fuel Costs, Exchange Rate Blamed As Sounds Air Pulls Plug On Capital To Westport Flights
Regional operator Sounds Air is canning its Wellington to Westport route in the face of tough economic headwinds.
Its last run to the capital will be 31 December.
Sounds Air said unlike Air New Zealand it did not receive government support - and has twice applied for funds intended for the regions but missed out both times.
Managing director Andrew Crawford said in his 21 years at the helm nothing compares to the post-Covid financial challenges.
Fuel, the exchange rate, part supply, the supply chain and the labour market were among obstacles confronting the business on a regular basis.
"It just goes on and on," Crawford told Checkpoint.
For the supply chain, he had two aircraft laid up while new parts were coming from overseas but there was no idea when they might be delivered.
He believed other airlines, including Air New Zealand, had been experiencing the same supply chain problems since the pandemic began.
Regarding staffing, it was difficult to find enough engineers in particular. Labour was also costing more.
"But the big ones are the fuel, maintenance and the dollar.
The service that was being cancelled had been chosen because Westport had a small population (4500), it was remote and didn't have the population base of Wellington, Christchurch and Blenheim.
"Numbers were good but not as good as that we can utilise the plane in other sectors."
Sounds Air was operating the service at a loss which was not uncommon for regional services, he said.
Crawford said he was grateful to the airports in Blenheim, Wellington and Christchurch which had been supportive for small airlines since Covid while customers around the country had also been "fantastic".
He finished with a plea to the Prime Minister Christopher Luxon as a former boss of Air New Zealand: "I think the government should talk to regional aviation as a group urgently and work out what's going to happen. ... This can't go on and I'm not doing it anymore."
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