Wanganui flights up in air

A review of regional air services will include Wanganui, but that should not be cause for any nervousness, according to one of Air New Zealand's senior managers.
Bruce Parton, head of Air NZ's short haul airlines, told the Chronicle yesterday the review should be finished before Christmas, but there was no need for locals to get "particularly nervous about it".
"Reviewing our services is something we're doing every day with all our services, and that's the same for every airline," Mr Parton said.
"We're here to fly customers, but flying empty planes is a very expensive exercise and a waste of our time," he said. We have to make the schedule and pricing work for our customers. It's that simple."
However, Mr Barton said being caught in a massive recession meant looking more closely at every route.
"We had an example with a service from Christchurch to Oamaru. We were flying an empty plane into Oamaru and flying four people out. We just can't make an operation like work.
"In that type of circumstance, we sit down with the local community to find what does work and rework the schedule to suit the need."
He said domestic patronage had fallen by 3 per cent in the wake of a slowing economy.
Mr Parton said it did not need a recession for Air NZ to evaluate every regional route is services: "We do it every day.
"Sometimes we add capacity and sometimes take a large aircraft out and replace it with a smaller plane."
He said the review would drill deeper than that.
"It will look at what mix of aircraft and frequency we need across the entire network. It will take a step back, look at the network and find out if we've got the right fleet to best service the local communities."
He said it would involve consultation with those local centres, including district councils and others.
"It is about making a buck but not about making such extraordinary profits that fares are too expensive and people don't fly," Mr Parton said.
He said the review would start on July and he expected a resolution by Christmas.
"This will be an interactive process. It just won't be Air NZ making sudden announcements on a raft of changes.
"Our job is providing a service, but it's got to be one people want. There's no point putting a plane into Wanganui that nobody uses."
"Likewise, there's no point us not having enough capacity in Wanganui so people have to drive or take other alternative transport because we're not providing enough."
Mr Parton said the airline had a finite number of planes in its fleet and it meant the best use of those aircraft.
"If I was living in provincial New Zealand I wouldn't see this review as something to panic about. But linking with the community gives us that understanding," he said.
Air Nelson general manager John Hambleton will head the review that will examine, recommend and implement changes across the three regional airlines (Air Nelson, Eagle Air and Mount Cook Airline).
It will look at operations and airports, determine the best location for aircraft maintenance, as well as looking what best fits each of the regional airports.