LOOKING BACK, MOVING FORWARD

Looking back,

Moving forward

The last two years have been a challenge for the airline industry, our country and the global community as a whole, and while we still have challenges ahead, our family airline is looking forward to getting back to what we love to do most: connecting Kiwis with friends and families across the regions. As the skies start to clear and Kiwis look to fly once more, we caught up with Chief Operating Officer Duane Emeny to look back on an eventful time - and to the future!

Looking back it was a pretty frightening time, but we knew we had a fantastic team and could rely on them to be rock solid.

The start of the global pandemic and the associated lockdown had a huge effect on individual Kiwis, their families and businesses. How did it impact Air Chathams?

It was such a dynamic situation, with changes coming not day by day but hour by hour. There is always the temptation to jump into action, but we needed to hang back and pace ourselves and see what was coming through as the situation evolved. We went from doing 116 scheduled flights a week to having everything effectively coming to a grinding halt, but the first thing we prioritised was the Chatham Islands because we knew that the Islands had to have an air link. We were well supported in that by the Ministry of Transport, who came to the table and said, “What do you need to make sure those flights continue?” Looking back it was a pretty frightening time, but we knew we had a fantastic team and could rely on them to be rock solid.

Suliasi Fualalo performing a routine oil check on the ATR-72 500

As an airline that prides itself on being a closeknit, cooperative team the impact of lockdowns on business must have been challenging.

There were so many people across the country losing their jobs, and regardless of the situation it’s not an easy thing to do - and particularly for a family business like ours - so we were waiting and hoping for assistance and fortunately it was enough for us to retain all our staff. We knew it was crucial for us to maintain our very skilled staff so that as soon as the situation changed we could ramp things up and get back into operation. So we made the decision to tough it out and not to let anyone go, and that meant we could continue to not only maintain freight links but be ready to pivot as soon as borders opened and things changed.

Mitchell Reade loading the Cargo onto the ATR-72 500 for Chatham Island residents

How important was maintaining freight services?

It was vital. There were no domestic flights within New Zealand and this had a massive effect on things like the seafood industry. But because we had made sure we could still operate we were able to step in and help that industry get their product to market - and therefore keep their workers in work. We played a big part in this, at one stage shifting 500 tonnes of export-packed live crayfish out of the South Island, and it was an awesome effort by all involved to be a part of making that happen.

The cooperation and support we saw at this time was fantastic. Everyone was working together - and that’s a real Kiwi thing - to make sure we got through. District Councils came to the party to see how they could help us to keep connecting the regions, and obviously the Ministry of Transport played a really important part in keeping us operational and maintaining the role we play in the New Zealand air transport scene. Everyone was working together and that’s a real Kiwi thing - to make sure we got through.

Has anything positive come from the pandemic experience?

A silver lining to the pandemic has been that so many Kiwis have chosen to visit the Chatham Islands, and we’ve had a fantastic response from people who have always wanted to go and have subsequently been really positive about their time there. So many people have had the Chatham Islands on their bucket list, and the closing of the borders was the impetus to make that a reality, and the overwhelming response we’ve heard from those who have visited the Chathams has shown just how great it is as a destination.

Suliasi Fualalo and Taufa Ha’angana getting ready to push one of the aircraft in to the Air Chathams hangar in Auckland

Are there still challenges ahead?

Yes, we’re not out of the woods yet! Like pretty much every other industry we’re seeing huge disruptions to supply chains, with parts taking much longer to source and also being much more expensive. Aviation fuel alone has tripled in price, and just as we’re feeling the price at the pump when we fill up our cars, the increases in aviation fuel and the like is going to make the coming year very difficult for us, our industry and many others. Ultimately we’re just really happy to see things begin to turn a corner and that we can get back to doing what we love - connecting the regions and getting Kiwis around the country.

And there is a new addition to ‘the family’?

Yes - our newly purchased ATR aircraft is going to be a great addition to Air Chathams. We pride ourselves on having backups in our fleet so that we can always make sure we complete our schedules wherever humanly possible, and having this aircraft on the roster reinforces that. The new ATR could be flying domestically during peak times, doing private charters throughout the country as well as flights to Norfolk Island when flights restart back in September - we’re loving having it as the latest addition to Air Chathams and we think our passengers are going to love it too.

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