The chief operating officer at Air Chathams (3C, Chatham Island) says Whanganui District Council would be better off facilitating a route between Whanganui and Christchurch, instead of paying NZD6.7 million New Zealand dollars (USD4.1 million) to build a planned parallel taxiway. COO Duane Emeny told the New Zealand Herald that opening a route to Christchurch would create "significant long-term commercial and social benefits" to the community, whereas a "parallel taxiway is an unnecessary luxury."
Air Chathams is the only scheduled operator servicing Whanganui Airport on New Zealand's North Island, which it flies to from Auckland International. However, the airport also has a reasonable amount of general aviation traffic and is home to the New Zealand International Commercial Pilot Academy.
Whanganui District Council and the New Zealand government own the airport in equal partnership, and a draft long-term plan includes constructing a parallel taxiway. However, this is contingent on the NZ government providing half the funding, which it has not committed to so far.
During recent public hearings on the long-term plan, Emeny said the airport operated effectively without a parallel taxiway despite initially supporting it. "Air Chathams now views the parallel taxiway as an unnecessary luxury that the community can ill afford at a time when other public services are being cut to avoid a higher proposed rates increase,” he said.
Emeny told the hearings that his aircraft would be unable to use the planned taxiways because they would be too heavy. Air Chathams operates a mixture of ATR72-500s and Saab 340 types into Whanganui. He also pointed out that the airport had experienced no incidents or accidents that a parallel taxiway would have prevented.
The COO said the district council would be better off investing in a new route to Christchurch and that any investment could be in the form a loan rather than a capital outlay. In return, Air Chathams would consider switching its North Island base from Auckland to Whanganui.
"That investment would be structured as a loan, rather than a capex spend without recovery," Emeny said, adding that while marketing support and aeronautical fee was appreciated, it would not be enough to warrant taking the risk of opening a new route. "If we were to establish feasible routes to both Auckland, which we have currently, and Christchurch, which would be a new route, there would be a strong business case to consider moving our Auckland operations and aircraft maintenance to Whanganui."
"Some of [our Auckland] commercial leases, which is a significant portion of what we pay each year, could be improved on if we were to work with your council and look at what we could do in Whanganui.”
According to ch-aviation fleets data, Air Chathams operates a total of eight aircraft, including two ATR72-500s, one Saab 340A, two Saab 340A(F)s, two Saab 340A(QC)s, and one Saab 340B. The airline flies to seven destinations within New Zealand, including Auckland, Whanganui, Chatham Island, Paraparaumu, Whakatane, Wellington, and Christchurch.
