Summary
- Chatham Islands Tuuta Airport has undergone a terminal expansion, and runway extensions are underway, improving connectivity for the island’s 600 residents.
- Air Chathams is considering acquiring a Boeing 737-300, which might allow for more passenger and cargo services to the islands, providing adaptability and higher balancing of individuals and products.
- Air Chathams operates domestic services on the NZ mainland, including each day flights between Auckland and abandoned routes left by Air Latest Zealand, charter operations, and sports team transportation. In addition they have a sole international service between Auckland and Norfolk Island.
The Chatham Islands, a small archipelago some two hours East of the Latest Zealand mainland, is home to at least one carrier, Air Chathams, which provides frequent passage between Latest Zealand’s most easterly inhabited point and Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch.
Eight hundred kilometers east (430NM) from the Latest Zealand mainland, all passengers are funneled through Chatham Islands Tuuta Airport (CHT), which has just undergone a terminal expansion. Runway extensions are also within the works, with completion expected by the top of the yr.
Source: GCMap
While it could appear insignificant for some, the runway extension opens up a world of possibilities for the near 600 residents that decision Chatham’s home. Currently, Air Chatham operates its ATR72 between the NZ mainland and Tuuta, where past passengers may inform you that some seats shall be loaded with cargo or live seafood. The island’s connectivity to the mainland is crucial, and its supplies to and from the island are only as essential.
A 737 could also be on the best way.
COO for Air Chathams, Duane Emeny, shared exciting prospects of the carrier attaining a Boeing 737-300 to facilitate each passenger and cargo services to the islands, and the flexibility to accumulate such an aircraft would mean the airline could adapt between a full passenger or total freight services. This adaptability is ‘key’ to services to the islands, which currently need to balance people and products.
Photo: Air Chathams
Sports teams are often seen onboard, with local rugby and netball teams utilizing the Saab A340, which comfortably matches the entire team, to be shuttled across the country. The airline was also a part of the primary ‘Winery Airline,’ which saw Invivo charter an Air Chatham flight between Auckland and Queenstown.
International operations
Chathams Pacific was a subsidiary that operated across Tonga between 2007 and 2013; nevertheless, fast forward to today, and the carrier’s sole international service is between Auckland and Australia’s Norfolk Island (NLK). The aircraft deploys one among its Saab 340 on the route.