Weather damage in Brisbane at YBAF

On an evening when most of Australia has been in mourning for cricket Phillip Hughes who died as a result of a tragic accident, Brisbane has been hit by a destructive storm.

Now it is storm season and,we are used to it, but tonights storm seemed to be very destructive, especially for those at Archerfield (YBAF)

Photos via @C_K_7 on twitter

Is user pays the new hope for regional NZ?

Masterton residents were up in arms when Air New Zealand dropped their daily MRO-AKL flight in February, now hope is thriving again with possibilities for "user pays" flights.

The first possible white knight to the community was Sounds Air with their plan to operate a Cessna Caravan on MRO-WLG as a morning commuter flight but this idea has since been shelved.

Next saw Vincent Aviation offer the community their MRO-AKL service back with a Saab SF340 service, however the community would have to buy or lease the Saab which Vincent would then operate.  However it looks like this plan will also be shelved after the turbulence of the Vincent Aviation Australia collapse.

The third white knight is Air Chathams a long established operator who usually fly to and from the Chatham Islands.  They have the experience here as well as having operated Chathams Pacific in Tonga, which ceased operation last year when the Tongan government set up a rival airline with Chinese donated aircraft.

Air Chathams are revisiting their original proposal and if the community accepts the terms, stumping up $100,000 to form a 50/50 LLC company, then Air Chathams could be flying from MRO in as little as two weeks from the formation.

However it appears there will need to be structural work completed at the airport, extending the runway by 70 meters at a cost of $150,000, to allow the Air Chathams Metroliner aircraft to take off with an 18 passenger load.

Whatever the local council and community decide it looks like the future of any service to Masterton relies on significant investment from the users.  Should this work out well then this offers an opportunity for other regional centres who have lost services to work with an iterated party using the "user pays" model to restart their service.

Read more about the Air Chathams proposal via the Dominion Post HERE

Sounds Air to add WAG?

Picton based Sounds Air look set to replace Air New Zealand on the Wellington to Whanganui route according to a Marlborough Express report.

Sounds Air managing director Andrew Crawford said detailed discussions between the airline and the Whanganui District Council were " a long way through" and an official announcement was pending.
Air New Zealand announced in September that it would drop its five-times weekly service between Whanganui and Wellington from Christmas Eve, citing a lack of demand.
Mr Crawford said Sounds Air would fly at the same times as the current Air New Zealand flights. But it would provide fewer seats than Air New Zealand which uses a 19-seat Beechcraft 1900D.   

This would take the Sounds Air destinations to 5 with Wellington, Picton (Koromiko), Blenheim, Nelson & Masterton* all currently served.

*Masterton was scheduled to start with Sounds Air offering flights to Wellington in place of the scheduled Air New Zealand services

Read the full article from the Marlborough Express HERE

Ridge Air BHE-CHC

Ridge Air is a small 3rd level operator based out of Omaka Aerodrome in Blenheim with a fleet of 2 aircraft - former Vincent Aviation Cessna 402C ZK-VAD, Piper PA-34-220T Senica IV ZK-BJM

Ridge Air also advertise Robinson R44 ZK-HDD but this is owned & operated by Tasman Helicopters & used when required.

I found berried in a business buzz article in the Marlborough Express a report that Ridge Air will start a daily return Blenheim-Christchurch flight targeting business customers.  The flight will depart Blenheim at 7am arriving in Christchurch at 8.10am, witht he return departing Christchurch at 4.30pm arriving in Blenheim at 5.40pm

I do not know whether these flights will operate from Woodbourne or from Omaka, or where they will operate from at Christchurch.

Read more on Ridge Air's fleet at Steve's 3rd Level New Zealand blog HERE or Dave Paull's NZ Civil Aircraft blog HERE