'Good Year' for Flights

More than 21,000 passengers have flown to or from Australia via Rotorua Airport since transtasman flights were introduced in the city.
Yesterday marked the first anniversary of the introduction of flights between Rotorua and Sydney and Air New Zealand general manager of Australia, Cam Wallace, said it had been a "good year".
"Our focus now is on continuing to build demand to ensure longevity of service," Mr Wallace said.
Rotorua International Airport chief executive George White said the first year of the transtasman flights had exceeded the airport company's expectations. Asked if the airport had set any target and if that had been reached, Mr White said an announcement would be made later today at an informal celebration to mark the first anniversary.
Air New Zealand would not detail passenger numbers or details about route performance, citing commercial reasons.
New Zealand Customs figures show there have been 98 flights from Rotorua to Sydney and the same number arriving from Sydney. A total of 11,001 passengers arrived in Rotorua and 10,472 flew from Rotorua to Sydney.
Mr Wallace said the airline had received excellent support from the tourism industry and the wider community in raising awareness of the new service on both sides of the Tasman.
"I would like to thank them for their commitment. It has been outstanding and I was recently in Rotorua to discuss this with stakeholders."
He said two flights in April/May were cancelled due to low numbers. One flight had to be diverted to Auckland due to strong winds.
Mr Wallace said the airline had invested in a guiding tool known as Required Navigation, which was used by pilots to enable them to land in inclement weather and just one flight had had to be diverted.
Mr White said in terms of operation "everything has run very smoothly without major incident". Highlights of the service had been the launch of the flights and the work done by the regional tourism industry and Central Park to promote flights.
"This has been a significant factor in us achieving the success we have to date with the flights."
He said the focus for the next year would be "cementing" the current operation while securing future growth.
"It has always been our goal to increase the number of flights and destinations and this is a goal we will continue to work towards.
"The future growth we are seeking will not just be around increased passenger numbers and flights at the airport but also about increased growth for the local tourism sector in Rotorua and the wider Central Park region."
To counter the slower winter months work was being done with ski operations in the region as well as various event organisers to promote the Central Park region as a vital winter and ski destination.
Since the service was introduced there had been only two security issues, both involving intoxicated passengers causing a disturbance, the first on the inaugural flight to Sydney and the second in October when police were called to Rotorua airport to deal with an intoxicated passenger on a flight from Sydney.
A New Zealand Customs spokesman said Customs used staff from Hamilton and Tauranga at Rotorua Airport. All arriving passengers were risk assessed and there had been "further interaction" with several of them.
However, Customs had seized only three prohibited items - two cartons of cigarettes and a pouch of tobacco.