Dear Passenger,

The first quarter of the year has evaporated so quickly and we are now making flight schedule variations reflecting the coming winter. These include tinkering with our Hamilton flight schedule to ensure the winter fogs they suffer from don’t impact our schedule to other ports on days when we can’t operate to and from Hamilton on time due to fog.

We continue to add further return services between Nelson and Palmerston North and following Easter, we will again add to our flights on this route. We really appreciate the growing support for our services on this sector which allows our continued schedule growth on this route.

During Covid we were forced to reduce our flying between Nelson and Wellington however, we reinstated some of these flights in the first quarter of this year and following Easter, will take the next step in offering you an increased selection of services that we hope will assist your travel choices.

We look forward to a busy April with both Easter and school holiday travellers flying during the month.

The year ahead looks challenging for the NZ economy due to a range of headwinds and our team at Originair is well positioned for this challenge and will make every effort to continue to offer you airline choice at affordable fares.

During the past quarter we have made two further staff appointments in Nelson. Cameron Perkins has joined us from the deep south as a Jetstream First Officer. Recently our Operations Manager, Murray Vincent, has been in the U.S. training for a corporate jet he is planning to fly at intervals during the year whilst still be available to assist with training at Originair.

Taking Murray’s position at Originair in the key Operations Manager role is Damian King. Damian has recently completed his interview with NZCAA and has been approved to take this role. Damian is well known to us as he was a Captain flying regional services from Nelson during our CEO’s time as Managing Director of Air Nelson. Damian has spent recent years flying corporate jets globally and his experience will be valuable now to Originair. Welcome to both Cameron and Damian.

We have sincerely appreciated the frequent email messages to the airline regarding the service passengers have experienced. Our team strive to offer the service they would like to experience, and your comments are very encouraging.

Tania Armstrong
Customer Service Manager, Originair

From Monday, 19 October 2020 Originair will offer direct weekday services between Palmerston North and Hamilton. The new Palmerston North–Hamilton services will depart Palmerston North for Hamilton at 10:50am and depart Hamilton for Palmerston North at 1pm, Monday to Friday. This is an extension of the service Originair has operated from Nelson–Palmerston North since 2014.

Simultaneously, Originair is increasing its Nelson–Palmerston North services from eight to fourteen flights per week. This increases its schedule to daily return services Monday to Thursday, and on Sunday. There will be two return services on Friday.

Flights for all services are now available via Originair’s booking system at www.originair.co.nz or by calling 0800 380 380.

“Demand for our services on the Nelson–Palmerston North route has grown and we hope that this extra scheduled frequency will be helpful for travellers accessing the central North Island and for North Island travellers visiting the Top of the South,” says Originair CEO Robert Inglis.

“After services between Hamilton and Palmerston North ceased earlier in the year, we were asked to consider extending our services to introduce direct weekday flights on this route. We are very aware that many business travellers would like a double daily peak-time service and our intention is to increase our schedule in early 2021 to accommodate that demand.

“This represents a cautious start on the Hamilton–Palmerston North route in line with the challenging times. Initially, we will service this schedule with a British Aerospace 19-seat Jetstream aircraft but we may increase the aircraft gauge to accommodate demand.”

In order to ensure Originair’s capacity to operate the additional flights the company has imported a further British Aerospace Jetstream 32EP from Iceland to add to its fleet.

“This aircraft is currently being prepared for CAA inspection and entry to service on the New Zealand register,” says Inglis. “This was the last serial number of the J32 series to be built and I believe it is a very good example of the 19-seat type. We look forward to seeing it landing at airports in the Originair livery soon.”

The announcement has been welcomed by Palmerston North Airport and Hamilton Airport.

“Both the Hamilton and Palmerston North airport companies are committed to supporting business and regional recovery, and the re-establishment of the Hamilton–Palmerston North service will help facilitate that,” says Hamilton Airport CEO, Mark Morgan.

“We welcome Originair’s investment in additional services between Palmerston North and Nelson and the new Hamilton–Palmerston North connection at what is a difficult time for the aviation industry,” says Palmerston North Airport CEO, David Lanham.

Inglis says that he hopes the new services will be supported by business and leisure travellers.

“We are also considering direct Nelson–Hamilton services,” he says.

Originair resumes its flight schedule on the Nelson–Palmerston North and Nelson–Wellington routes today with strong Queen’s Birthday weekend bookings.

“We are sorry we haven’t been able to help everyone wanting to travel over the busy Queen’s Birthday weekend as the seat numbers we can offer have had to be reduced to meet requirements for physical distancing,” says Originair CEO Robert Inglis.

“We have achieved this by only selling our window seats. This means that the number of seats available for sale is reduced to 67 percent of the aircraft’s seat capacity.”

There are still seats available on flights between 2-4 June if customers would like to contribute to Originair’s fundraising efforts for the Salvation Army. As announced earlier this month, Originair is donating passenger fare revenues generated from the first week of resumed flights to the Salvation Army, which will use the money to support its food banks in Nelson Tasman, Palmerston North, and Wellington.

Meanwhile Inglis is hopeful that the government may soon be able to announce physical distancing requirements no longer apply for air travel. “But that step can only come when the government decides that it is safe to do so.”

Inglis says that fares for the resumed flight schedule have not been increased, even though reduced seats are available for sale on each flight and costs associated with providing the service remain the same.

Inglis says that the company is very grateful to its passengers for their support and hopes that people’s confidence in resuming travelling will continue to grow.

“We look forward to seeing this growing confidence reflected in customers booking flights with Originair over the coming weeks and months,” says Inglis.

Originair’s flight schedule covers flights through until Spring, and bookings can be made here.