New air shuttle service launches

By Duncan Bridgeman

Friday 8th October 2004

A new air shuttle serving the lower North Island and Marlborough is due to start next month.

Backed by Integra Investments, a company run by Paraparaumu Beach Airport owner Murray Cole, the new service promises low-price airfares for passengers travelling to five airports.

Called air2there, the shuttle will operate out of Paraparaumu, flying a circular route linking Masterton, Palmerston North, Wellington and Blenheim. It will use Prop Jet Cessna Caravan aircraft and target commuters, inter-island and transtasman travellers.

Cole said multi pass section tickets, booked online, started at $46, while Marlborough and Sounds connections started at $138.

Door-to-door services and late-night connections on the Kapiti Coast and in Marlborough cost an extra $10.

The company has a fleet of five aircraft, of which two 10-seater Grand Caravans will operate on the circular route.

The aircraft have been fitted with "executive class" seating although the company plans to extend capacity to 14 passengers in the future.

Cole said he was not looking to compete with traditional airlines but was tapping into a new market, particularly commuters, weekend travellers and transtasman visitors looking to connect to centres outside Wellington.

He did not rule out Nelson as a future sector despite the city being well catered for by Air New Zealand and Origin Pacific.

The new service had been in the pipeline for two and half years and was a natural extension of the company's existing aircraft leasing and airport operations, he said.

"We are relatively debtfree and already have the logistics in place, so we are comfortable with what we are doing."

Cole, who is also a director of Palmerston North International Airport, is a proponent of the Boeing philosophy of point-to-point travel rather than large-scale commercial hub air travel.

Comments from our readers

No comments yet