NZWB/BHE set to grow

Photo from Marlborough Airport website

Blenheim's airport terminal, at Woodbourne (NZWB/BHE) is set to more than double its footprint in expansion plans unveiled yesterday.

It was expected to take six months to complete the work, which would see the passenger area expanded to the south, increasing existing floor space from 92 square metres to 240 square metres.
A mezzanine floor was also being considered to further increase passenger space.   

The current terminal opened in 1995 and passengers numbers have grown to 230 000/yr and are expected to continue to grow, especially with more Air New Zealand flights moving to the Q300 aircraft.  Even if Air New Zealand replace 2x 1900D flights with a single Q300 flight that is still an increase in capacity from 38 to 50 seats.

Marlborough Airport is served by 3 airlines Air New Zealand operating a mix of B1900D & Q300 aircraft to AKL, CHC & WLG, SoundsAir operating C208 Caravan & C208B Grand Caravan Aircraft to WLG and Air2There operating a C208 Caravan between PPQ, BHE & NSN - Air2There codeshare on the SoundsAir BHE-WLG route.

Read more on the terminal expansion via local newspaper The Marlborough Express reporter Cathie Bell 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

2 "new" C172's online at MAC

Marlborough Aero Club (my home aero club) has recently taken possession of two new Cessna 172 aircraft for training, ZK-OMR a C172E and ZK-OMK a C172, the Aero Club still has its two Piper PA-38-112 ZK-DMF & ZK-EQH the aircraft I learnt to fly in.  It would be nice to get back to Blenheim one day and take these two birds for a spin, but that wont be happening anytime soon.

The local newspaper The Marlborough Express published this article about the new acquisitions

      After six months of waiting, pilots at the Marlborough Aero Club have finally been able to take to the skies in two new planes, the first steps in turning the club into one of New Zealand's few bush pilot training schools.
Club president Craig Anderson said it had been a long six months getting the two Cessna 172 planes from the United States to take off on their first flights here on Friday.
The planes, which cost $140,000, had to be found using the internet, then inspected in California and Arizona, flown to San Francisco to be disassembled then shipped to New Zealand, to be reassembled and registered, he said.
"It's a lot of work. The paper work getting them on the Civil Aviation Register here is just a mess. Your shoulders start slumping."
However, Mr Anderson said the planes were crucial to the club's plan to transform itself, teaching prospective pilots to fly in back country, taking off and landing on grass strips and other less traditional runways.
Bush pilot training was something that was not offered by many clubs in New Zealand, but was more challenging and a lot more fun than traditional flying, teaching greater skills, he said, and the wait for the planes had been worth it.
"There's a lot of people walking out of those planes with big grins on their faces and everyone's been saying people are going to get a lot of enjoyment out of them."
The instructors had also been working with experienced Marlborough pilots learning and getting familiar with the about 10 landing strips, which the club will be training on.
"We're very lucky because on the field here [at Omaka] we have got people who have done a lifetime of bush flying and strip flying, people with in excess of 15,000 bush flying hours."
The strips offered different challenges, being curved or tricky to approach in different conditions. The club was preparing a list of each strip's features and trainee pilots would be trained specifically for each strip to make sure the training was safe, Mr Anderson said.
The planes will get their first serious outing at the club's inaugural Healthy Bastards Bush Pilot Champs on February 2.
The champs, which will attract at least 30 pilots, from around the country will involve two competitions, one will see pilots trying to take off and land in the shortest distance and the other will see them trying to land as close as possible to a line on the runway.