Air Chathams Cuts Whakatāne Flights by 45 Percent Amid Fuel Cost Surge

Air Chathams has cut flights to Whakatāne by 45 percent, citing rising jet fuel costs and falling demand.

As jet fuel prices increase, Air Chathams has announced cuts across multiple routes, including to Whakatāne Airport. 

This follows a $20 price increase last month as fuel prices surged due to the conflict in the Middle East.

Air Chathams CEO Duanne Emeny said while March costs were manageable, April brought a sharp increase.  

"As of April 1st, the full escalated price hit in Auckland, where we uplifted over 80 percent of our jet fuel."

Schedules were reviewed to reduce costs while maintaining essential services, he said. 

For Whakatāne, there will be one return flight daily, except on Saturdays - the largest reduction across the network.

"We've targeted the times that people generally want to fly based on the data that we have and that's where we've consolidated into," Emeny said. 

He said the decision was not taken lightly, but was necessary to keep the service viable.

"We can still accommodate customers flying on the days that they want to fly, not necessarily at the time they want to fly, but at least we can transfer them to other flights."

Flights to Whakatāne have been reduced by 45 percent 

Demand has dropped in the Eastern Bay, with Whakatāne now the airline’s "worst preforming route", despite previously being one of its strongest.

Emeny said the route had performed well with smaller 18-seat aircraft, but demand has not held since their retirement.

"We're not overnighting the aircraft like we used to do, so we've lost the business market, which is early morning, late evening."

The airline is working with the council to rebuild demand, but Emeny said investing in a $5 million aircraft on a marginal route was difficult to justify.

The cuts come just two weeks after an interline agreement with Air New Zealand was launched. 

While the trial has allowed connections to destinations including Wellington, Christchurch and Invercargill, Emeny said scaling back flights would affect some passengers.

"Now to have to trim those flights back and impact some of those interline customers is certainly a decision we don't take lightly."

"It's been quite challenging to work through," he said. 

Air Chathams is working with Air New Zealand to minimise disruption, and affected customers will be contacted and reaccommodated.