Interislander promises Easter weekend passengers will sail, despite Kaitaki return date being pushed back again

The Kaitaki. Photo / Mark Mitchell

The Interislander’s Kaitaki will be out of action until at least April 10 - but the company says passengers booked for the busy Easter period will still be able to sail.

The Kaitaki was supposed to return on March 30, however, this date has been pushed back multiple times.

Between April 1 and April 10, 8200 people were booked to sail across the Cook Strait on the Kaitaki - and while those travelling over Easter weekend will make it, some are not so lucky.

Interislander executive general manager Walter Rushbrook said some people booked earlier in April have had their sailings cancelled.

He said these people have been offered a full refund, or are asked to contact Interislander if they wish to rebook.

Rushbrook said all passengers booked over Easter weekend will be able to sail on either the Aratere or the Kaiarahi, although some may not get the exact times they booked originally.

“By increasing other ferry sailings and taking a number of other steps, we’ve been able to advise more than 90 per cent of Kaitaki passengers booked up till the end of Easter they can cross the [Cook] Strait as planned, though some have been offered different times to their original booking,” he said.

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He also could not offer a specific date for the Kaitaki to resume sailing, saying that the gearbox failure is “complex”.

“In the near future, we expect to be able to announce a date when Kaitaki will return to service.”

He apologised for the disruption, saying it came despite “our best efforts”.

“The issues with Kaitaki have disrupted travel for many people, and we want to apologise to our passengers for that.”

After weeks of cancelled sailings, the Interislander has had to hire more staff to cope with almost 1000 refunds to passengers affected by their sailings.

General manager of operations Duncan Roy told the Herald 900 refunds are being processed and for some of these customers, delays in the refund process are creeping up to a month.