An aircraft flies overhead as a person rummages for recyclables at a garbage dumpsite in Paranaque city, metro Manila June 8, 2014. The United Nations declared "Small Islands and Climate Change" the theme of 2014 World Environment Day, with the
An aircraft flies overhead as a person rummages for recyclables at a garbage dumpsite in Paranaque city, metro Manila June 8, 2014. The United Nations declared "Small Islands and Climate Change" the theme of 2014 World Environment Day, with the year's official 2014 slogan being "Raise your voice, not the sea level". REUTERS/Romeo Ranoco (PHILIPPINES - Tags: SOCIETY ENVIRONMENT TRANSPORT TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)

The raging concerns over connectivity to New Zealand's regions after the impending exit of Air New Zeland from some of the regional routes will be addressed by the efforts of some new players. The emerging situation is becoming an opportunity for a few entrepreneurs who wanted to step into that vaccum with new services.

Interestingly, Ewan Wilson, the owner of a flopped airline service is bracing to start services. Despite his setback in the 1990s, Wilson is floating an exclusive regional airline and looking for a few more investors to enter the regional air routes being abandoned by Air New Zealand.

Taking Wings

Wilson has already got an investor in the principals of imported used car dealers, 2 Cheap Cars, who have come forward to invest in the project. They have jointly agrreed upon the name of the company, Kiwi Regional Airlines, and has been accepted by the Companies Office. Further details with regard to names of directors are awaited.

Air New Zealand announced in November that it is exiting services from Auckland to Kaitaia and Whakatane, Wellington to Whangarei, Taupo and Westport, and Palmerston North to Nelson service in April 2015 though Auckland to Hamilton service will stay until February 2016. The national carrier has expressed its willingness to provide load factors and other commercial information relating to the routes to would-be operators after it decided to call off routes without a margin.

Wilson was the director of Hamilton-based Kiwi Air in 1996, which flopped under the weight of competition from Air New Zealand subsidiaries Freedom Air, and Mt Cook Airlines. It also had logistical problems created by the leased aircraft that was too often fog-bound at Hamilton airport.

The 2 Cheap Cars chief executive Eugene Williams told Scoop News that his company's investment in the venture would be "substantial" though he did not disclose the size of the intended shareholding, and said negotiations are still on. On the type or ownership of aircraft the airline might use, he said it wanted to appeal to "the business traveller who doesn't want to fly in a single engine Cessna." Williams is expecting KRA to operate in 2016 "with further consortium partners being announced soon."

Crisis in Regional service

A crisis in regional service cropped up after Air New Zealand tactically cut down its exposure in many of those routes. It announced on Nov 10 that in 13 routes it will upgrade from 19 seat aircraft to more cost effective 50 seat aircraft with a 15 percent average fare reduction to the customers.

The 12 towns are Kerikeri, Whangarei, Tauranga, Hamilton, Rotorua, Gisborne, Taupo, Wanganui, Palmerston North, Blenheim, Hokitika and Timaru. But in a smaller number of regional routes, the customer demand cannot sustain larger 50 seat aircraft. So, Air New Zealand will suspend the following services from April 2015: Kaitaia - Auckland; Whakatane - Auckland; Whangarei - Wellington; Taupo - Wellington; Westport - Wellington and Palmerston North - Nelson, according to Air New Zealand sources.