Inflite Charters charter manager Paul Aston. Photo / Supplied
Inflite Charters charter manager Paul Aston. Photo / Supplied
Inflite Charters says business is booming as more Kiwi companies and big groups discover private flying.
The fixed-wing firm's charter manager Paul Aston says the lockdown of last August spurred a rush of business that hadn't eased off since.
"It became very apparent that we're starting to see a trendwhere it's not only individuals, we started to see corporations and also group travel, sports teams, starting to rethink how they move. And that trend has now grown and grown."
The company is part of the Inflite group of companies, which includes helicopter businesses and tourism operations which he said were struggling with the near-collapse of many parts of the visitor economy.
"We're very lucky that the company is split into different income streams."
Private flying comes at a premium but Aston said companies and sports groups that it was working with wanted to move anything from six to 50 people around the country. They wanted more flexibility and in some cases were flying in separate bubbles for Covid safety.
"They really just don't want to be putting their people at risk. Scheduled operations have been problematic, with critical scheduling cancelled. When you're doing contracts, for essential workers in companies they need to move safely and also on time. We're seeing it more and more."
An Inflite Charters aircraft at Queenstown. Photo / Supplied
It had gone from operating one to two charters a week to up to a dozen a week during the past six months.
Customers ranged from medical companies moving doctors to engineering firms wanting staff flown to specific locations.
"Another big part of our business is sports teams, we're seeing all the major codes that are coming to us that would normally use Air New Zealand - but now we're seeing them coming to us for the main trunk stuff."
Teams could avoid costly overnight accommodation using the fly-in/fly-out approach.
Inflite couldn't directly compete with promotion fares on the main trunk, he said.
To take 12 people from Auckland to Napier would start at around about $6500 to $7,000 and more than $25,000 if taking a jet.
"However, on the group travel, if you're taking a sports team of 30 people going from Wellington to Dunedin to play a game where they would stay overnight, two or three nights, the cost of commercial flights versus the charter are suddenly on a par," said Aston.
"So we're starting to see a lot of the codes saying it's a no brainer."
From a player-health perspective, there didn't have to be any interaction with the public at all during the journey.
Since the Government indicated it would bring forward a relaxation in border requirements for international visitors, inquiries from overseas had spiked, said Aston.
"We dabble in that and also the private jet stuff to and from New Zealand to and from Australia and up into the islands. We're starting to see a lot of inquiry for likes of Fiji and Rarotonga."
Inflite's fleet
3 x Metroliners, turbo prop – 18 passengers 3 x Saab 340s, turbo prop – 34 passengers 1 x ATR, turbo prop – 68 passengers Access to a network of private jet aircraft in New Zealand, Australia and globally.
