New Zealand News

Plans for Wellington Hushkit Ban Dropped

To the anger of Wellington residents and the relief of Air New Zealand, the Wellington City Council has dropped plans to ban hushkitted aeroplanes operating into the noise sensitive Wellington Airport. The council’s proposal would have seen Air New Zealand’s hushkitted, Stage III compliant 737-200s banned from operating into Wellington from December 1997, and it instead endorsed other noise provisions, including an air noise boundary around the airport. Air New Zealand has welcomed the decision, saying it does not allow discrimination between aircraft types and removes uncertainty over the future fleet makeup.

Auckland Airport Update

The Prime Minister Mr John Bolger formally opened the second stage of Auckland Airport’s international terminal expansion project on December 5, reports Peter Clark. This second stage has cost $NZ140m and provides 33 check-in counters in an all new environment, doubling the capacity of the international terminal. Apart from the enlarged check-in area, the new customs hall for arriving passengers is nearly twice the size of the previous area, easing congestion at peak times.

The airport’s recently released annual report shows aircraft movements and passenger numbers increased by 10% in 1994/95 compared to the previous year, while freight volume increased by nearly 20%. International aircraft movements increased by 10.2% to 107,111 and international passenger numbers grew to 3,889,245, while domestic passenger numbers increased by 9.9% to 2,921,217.

In terms of aircraft movements, passenger numbers and freight volume Auckland now ranks in the top 25% of the world’s international airports. Some 88% of all international visitors to New Zealand arrive or depart from Auckland, while nearly 80% of all New Zealand air freight passes through the airport.

Days before the terminal extension opening the airport was awarded with ISO 9001 accreditation from the International Organisation of Standardisation. The ISO 9001 recognises the airport’s commitment to quality and that the airport has in place procedures to maintain, evaluate and improve its standards of quality. The airport is believed to be the first in the world to receive ISO 9001 accreditation for its airfield operations. The airport has also received ISO 9001 accreditation for its fire service, draughting office, operations division, quality assurance department, safety and security division and airfield maintenance.

Mount Cook Withdraws From Chathams

Mount Cook was due to withdraw its services to the Chathams in February. Mount Cook began flying to Chatham Island four years ago when the NZ Government withdrew its subsidies, forcing the previous operator Safe Air to pull out from the route. Mount Cook said its patronage on the route over the last year was below expectations and the service would not be economically viable with the airline’s new, larger ATR 72s which is replacing the HS.748s Mount Cook operated on the route. Mount Cook’s withdrawal leaves only Air Chathams flying the route. Air Chathams was due to take delivery of its ‘new’ 58 seat Convair 580 from Kelowna Flightcraft in Canada in late February.

Sir Tim Injured in Spitfire Crash

New Zealand warbirds pioneer and founder of the Alpine Fighter Collection Sir Tim Wallis was seriously injured when his Spitfire he was piloting crashed soon after takeoff from Wanaka in early January. Sir Tim, 57, was seriously injured in the crash and was taken to Dunedin Hospital with serious head injuries. The Spitfire was significantly damaged and it was not clear if it can be rebuilt. Witnesses said soon after takeoff the Spitfire veered to the right, clipped a fence and cartwheeled before coming to rest upside down in a paddock. The former Indian Air Force Spitfire Mk 14 was originally rebuilt in the UK in the mid 1980s before Sir Tim imported it into New Zealand in 1992. This was Sir Tim’s second crash in this aircraft.

Anz Buys Out Air Nelson

Air Nelson founder and Managing Director Robert Inglis and joint shareholder Nicki Smith have announced their intention to sell the remaining 50% shareholding in the airline to Air New Zealand. Air New Zealand became a 50% shareholder in Air Nelson in 1988 and the latter has grown to become the largest regional airline in Australasia, with a fleet of 24 aircraft and a staff of 440.

Airways to Fund Confidential Reporting System

The Airways Corporation has announced plans to establish New Zealand’s first confidential accident and incident reporting system. The ICARUS Confidential Aviation Reporting System (CARS) is not designed to substitute for any mandatory accident or incident reporting system currently operated by the NZ CAA or Airways, but instead is designed to complement such systems and provide enhanced aviation safety reporting. Anybody within the aviation industry is invited to use CARS to express concerns about system problems, poor practices, a poor design or feature or actual near misses or safety breaches. The ICARUS CARS’ designers Dr Ross Ewing and aviation psychologist Mrs Kerry Morters will collate, analyse and report findings to the wider aviation community without revealing the identity of the source. Airways is providing funding for ICARUS for the first two years. Airways, the CAA, the Ministry of Transport and industry representatives have been working to establish a confidential reporting system in New Zealand for the past two years. Similar systems already operate in Australia, the USA, Canada, South Africa and Europe.

Upgrade for Hamilton

Hamilton based Foster Construction has been awarded a $NZ2m contract to extend Hamilton Airport. Work was due to begin by early February with completion set for July 29. Up to 40 people will be employed in the construction of the terminal at its peak.

Briefs

Kiwi Travel is looking at flying once or twice weekly charters from Hamilton to Coolangatta from March through to September this year. Also under consideration are charters from Dunedin to Coolangatta and Hamilton to Cairns.

CelciusTech and McDonnell Douglas Aerospace have signed a memorandum of understanding covering teaming to meet the RNZAF’s Project Sirius P-3 Orion mission system upgrade programme. Other contenders include Boeing and E-Systems. Project definition study contracts were due to be awarded to two or three contractors in March with a final selection decision due for mid 1997.

The RNZAF has put up for tender a range of surplus Airtourer and Airtrainer parts. Strong interest from Australia was anticipated.

Kiwi Shuttle ceased its New Plymouth/Hamilton services in order to allow Kiwi Travel International to focus solely on the development of its international services. Regardless Kiwi has expressed interest in starting domestic New Zealand operations if Air New Zealand’s acquisition of a stake in Ansett goes ahead.

The Alpine Fighter Collection’s Hawker Hurricane arrived in Christchurch from Britain in December, where Air New Zealand engineers will complete restoration. Flight testing is due in late 1997.

The RNZAF’s 3 Squadron Iroquois detachment will remain based at Wigram until a formal decision is made on the former air base’s future. The RNZAF formally closed the base last September.

As part of a regional demonstration tour, Boeing brought the first 777, N7771, to Auckland in mid December. The aircraft was in Auckland for three days, however a strike by Air Traffic Controllers (part of an ongoing dispute with the Airways Corporation) meant the 777 was unable to fly any demonstration flights while in NZ.

A Taipei newspaper has identified New Zealand as one of four countries from which the Republic of China Air Force would like to base training aircraft due to considerable airspace congestion in Taiwan. The newspaper said the air force was also investigating Australia, the Philippines and the USA as potential sites.