Tauranga has missed out on another regional flight provider after the new airline Kiwi Regional Airlines announced its new path.
From on September 27 this year, Kiwi will start each day with a return Dunedin to Queenstown flight, supporting close business and tourism relationships between the two cities.
Jetstarannounced last week it was looking at flying New Zealand domestic routes and indicated Napier, Hamilton, Rotorua, New Plymouth, Palmerston North, Nelson and Invercargill were being considered as its first destinations.
Tauranga Airport manager Ray Dumble said Tauranga was not missing out and the locations named initially were only the first pool.
Priority One chief executive Andrew Coker said it was a question of timing as to whether Jetstar would come to Tauranga.
The Kiwi Regional Airlines aircraft, a SAAB 340A 32-seat twin-engine turboprop model, would then fly mid-morning to Nelson direct from Dunedin, a route that has not been flown previously by a scheduled service, but connects the country's premier fishing industry ports, and the two largest South Island cities outside Christchurch.
