Sounds Air (S8, Picton) is weighing up its options as it considers sourcing larger aircraft for its Blenheim-Christchurch route, reports The Marlborough Express. The route is currently served with 9-seat PC-12s, but due to increased demand the airline is looking to replace its aircraft with 19-seat Beech 1900D or 34-seat Saab (Sweden) 340 equipment.
The carrier took over the Blenheim-Christchurch route in September 2016, after it was abandoned by Air New Zealand (NZ, Auckland International) in July that year. Demand increased following an earthquake at Kaikoura in November which closed State Highway 1. The highway has remained in a fragile state and suffers frequent closures.
Sounds Air currently offers 22x weekly flights on the route, but CEO Andrew Crawford says that increased pressure means they need to look at larger aircraft.
"It's a dramatic change to our business model," Crawford said. "But we are certainly looking at it and if we do get larger aircraft, Blenheim to Christchurch will be the route they go on."
Crawford made the comments at a public meeting about air services in Blenheim. Also in attendance was Air New Zealand Head of Government and Industry Affairs Duncan Small who confirmed that the national carrier had no interest in resuming the route.
"We are confident in the reasons we had for stopping that service before the earthquake, which is that we don't see the long-term potential to grow the service into something that's viable on a 50-seat aircraft," Small said.
Sounds Air operates a fleet of five Cessna (single turboprop) 208 Caravans and five Pilatus PC-12s.
