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Air travellers between Nelson and Wellington now have more options for getting across Cook Strait, with the merging of Nelson and Marlborough air operators Flight Corporation Scenic and Sounds Air.
Caron Proctor of Flight Corporation Scenic said the partnership would mean a greater range of flight services and options for customers, particularly those flying into or out of Nelson.
In November 2007, Sounds Air added more flights to its Nelson-Wellington schedule after the company bought a new 13-seat Cessna Caravan plane, allowing it to add two evening flights to its early-morning Wellington-Nelson service, which had been operating for two years. The new aircraft brought the airline’s fleet to seven aircraft.
Sounds Air, based at Picton Airport, operates a range of scheduled flight services between Wellington, Picton, Blenheim and Nelson plus a range of scenic flights in the Marlborough Sounds.
Flight Corporation Scenic is based in the Nelson Airport terminal and provides a range of scenic flights, flight packages and private charters.
Ms Proctor said it was clear that there was greater demand for scheduled flights between Nelson and Wellington than for scenic flights, so a decision was made to form the partnership with Sounds Air.
An announcement was due soon on a new flight schedule, but the plan was to “drip feed” extra flights in over the next few weeks, Ms Proctor said.
She said the Flight Corporation Scenic name would no longer be used. All services will operate under the Sounds Air brand.
“This is a great partnership for all involved, and will deliver genuine benefits to our customers in terms of an increased range of services, more varied aircraft and better pricing,” Ms Proctor said.
Sounds Air managing director Andrew Crawford said the partnership was a natural step in the company’s continued expansion.
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A bunch of young eagles are expected to take to the sky this month.
No, they are not the much-watched eagles nesting near Turtle Bay.
These young eagles are children ranging in age from 8 to 17 who will get the chance to fly free with experienced pilots during Young Eagles Day next Saturday at Benton Airpark off Placer Street in Redding.
Chapter 157 of the Experimental Aircraft Association in Redding and the Mt. Shasta 99s, an organization of women pilots, are putting on the 9 a.m. to noon event to try to spark an interest in flying with youngsters.
More than 50 children took advantage of the free flights at a similar event in May.
Organizers say that members of both flying groups are volunteering their time and their aircraft to give flights to children to ignite excitement about flying and maybe even inspire them to pursue aviation careers as they get older.
Children between the ages of 8 and 17, who must be accompanied by a parent or adult guardian, are asked to report to Hillside Aviation at Benton Airpark at 8:30 a.m. to register for the free flights.
After each flight, the youngster will receive a Young Eagles certificate of flight and a photo taken with the airplane and pilot.
The Young Eagles program, which was started by the national EAA organization in 1992, has flown more than 1.4 million flights with youngsters.
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Ryanair services to/from Pau will be transferred to Lourdes between July 27 and August 9. Lourdes Airport is 40km from Pau, which Ryanair hopes will keep disruption to a minimum.
The airline’s Stephen McNamara said: “Ryanair has worked with Pau and Lourdes airports to minimise the disruption of the closure of Pau by transferring all flights to Lourdes, which is just 40km away. Ryanair will contact all affected passengers via email to inform them of the amendments to their itinerary.”
Ryanair appreciates that the closure of Pau Airport may inconvenience some travellers. However, passengers who have already booked Ryanair flights will be offered complementary coach transfers between the airports.
The low cost carrier explains that the upgrade at Pau Airport will benefit all Ryanair passengers in the long term. The improvements will minimise weather related cancellations and diversions to/from the airport in the future.
In addition to the temporary changes at Pau, Ryanair flights to/from Paris Beauvais Airport will be cancelled for a week in June. As with Pau Airport, Paris Beauvais will be closed for upgrades to its landing systems.
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The civil aviation ministry has asked domestic air carriers flying to foreign destinations not to compete with each other and align schedules of their flights for better returns. Early this week, ministry officials asked air-carriers to get rid of excess capacity on both foreign and domestic sectors and also reduce transit time to save on operational costs.
The suggestion was necessary as domestic airlines such as Air India, Jet Airways and Kingfisher are set to lose over Rs 8,000 crore due to stiff competition and rising jet fuel in 2008-09, a ministry official, who was present in the meeting, said.
Air India, Jet Airways and Kingfisher have already started rationalising routes and reduced capacity, he said requesting anonymity. The meeting, called to discuss ways to enhance operational efficiencies, was attended by executives of domestic airlines, airport operators and aviation regulator.
Currently, aviation sector is largely deregulated that allows airlines to compete with each other thus benefiting consumers. They offer lower airfares and better choices to consumers for getting business.
It is suggested that flights of two airlines reaching to a destination almost at the same time, should not compete to operate a connecting flight from there to a third destination if there is not adequate traffic. The two can rationalise the routes in such a way that everybody will be the winner, he said.
Jet Airways last week said it had put on hold all its expansion plan due to market condition. The airline is looking at leasing out its aircraft from the B737 family to reduce capacity. It reduced nearly 18% capacity in the last winter schedule and plans to ground additional 8-10% in this fiscal. “Out of over 40 cities we operate domestically, we are making profits on very few routes. Even per seat yield has also fallen due to the cuts in airfares,” the executive said.
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Aviation sources suggest the 787 could fly for the first time at the end of the month, two months ahead of the US aircraft maker’s schedule.
Jetstar, which will take the first 15 of the 65 Dreamliners ordered by Qantas, says an earlier test flight is likely.
The nose cone section of Jetstar’s first 787 — aircraft 21 on the production line — has been moulded and is nearing completion at a plant in Wichita, Kansas.
Six flight test aircraft are at various stages of completion.
The moulded carbon-fibre fuselage barrels of aircraft six were recently joined and the wings, aft-tail cone, horizontal stabliser and rudder assembly fitted.
A fastener problem, where the first few aircraft were not properly joined, also has been overcome.
Technicians were removing and replacing all of the affected fasteners, and “we have the stock to do that”, a company spokesman said, adding that “fewer than 3 per cent of fasteners installed to date were non-comforming”.
The sign these efforts will come together and set the 787 on course for takeoff has been the sudden ramp up of pre-flight marketing for the mostly carbon fibre aeroplane.
This month, aviation analysts will be flown to Seattle for flight test and certification briefings.
Nevertheless the test date remains a tight secret. Boeing chiefs fear that excessive pre-flight publicity could rebound badly should yet another unexpected delay occur.
The official line is that the first flight will occur during the second half of this year and the first delivery, to Japan’s All Nippon Airlines, will occur in the first half of next year.
The Dreamliner, billed as the most revolutionary airliner ever built, is the biggest-selling new airline in aviation history.
Airlines, drawn by the opportunity to achieve a 20 per cent saving on fuel consumption, virtually queued to write cheques for the $200 million list price when models were unveiled back in 2006.
At last count Boeing was holding 878 orders — down from 900 because of the economic downturn.
The 787 is the first commercial aircraft made with lightweight, moulded composite materials that are much stronger than aluminium.
Because Boeing outsourced production to contractors in 35 US states, Japan and Europe, problems arose when the time came to assemble the pieces.
As a result, technicians had to be sent to myriad factories to oversee production, adding to overall costs because of the need to expand resources.
The delays drained Boeing’s cash reserves as Qantas and other airlines sought compensation after being forced to withdraw from new routes that could not be operated by conventional aircraft.
Jetstar wants its 787s to expand across Asia and to run holiday flights to Athens and Rome, which is not profitable using Qantas 747s or the new A380 super jumbos.
Boeing, however, is seeking to appease major customers, particularly Qantas, which as well as the 65 jets it has ordered also holds options and purchase rights on another 50 aircraft.
Reports this week said Boeing had reshuffled the 787 delivery schedule to give Qantas and Air India priority and the right to take up cancelled and delayed production slots.
UK-based online aviation report Flight International said Boeing had shifted orders from Chinese airlines down the schedule and was giving priority to ANA, Qantas and Air India.
Boeing is switching some aircraft to ANA that had been destined for Chinese airlines, which wanted the 787 in time for last year’s Beijing Olympics.
ANA is expected to use its first aircraft for domestic routes, while Chinese carriers are more concerned about the first aircraft being overweight.
While this is a common problem with new aircraft types, it is a bigger problem for customers such as Qantas, who want the aircraft for longer international routes.
Boeing also has reportedly re-assigned 787s ordered by Delta Air Lines to Qantas and Air India.
Delta and Royal Air Maroc had been slated to take some of the first six test aircraft, but this plan has been revised, Flight International said.
Both Boeing and Airbus confront falling new aircraft sales as global carriers deal with the worst economic recession and credit crisis in aviation history.
Boeing says interest in the 787 remains strong, and that customers want to move up the order book.
