Air Chathams
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| Founded | 1984 | ||||||
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| Operating bases | Chatham Islands Airport | ||||||
| Fleet size | 16 | ||||||
| Destinations | 7 | ||||||
| Headquarters | Chatham Islands | ||||||
| Key people | Craig Emeny (CEO) | ||||||
| Website | http://www.airchathams.co.nz | ||||||
Air Chathams Limited is an airline based in Te One, the Chatham Islands, New Zealand. It was established in 1984 and operates scheduled passenger services between the Chatham Islands and mainland New Zealand along with routes between Auckland and Whakatane, and Auckland and Whanganui. Its main base is Chatham Islands / Tuuta Airport.
The airline was set up by Craig and Marion Emeny in 1984, and has grown into a reliable and safe airline that supports the transportation of both freight and people to and from mainland New Zealand.
Craig Emeny first moved to the Chatham Islands as a pilot to operate services primarily between Chatham and Pitt Islands. At that time the lack of regularity in flights to mainland New Zealand saw him start his own airline and begin operations to mainland airports. Air Chathams had the advantage of being based on the Chatham Islands and were able to avoid many of the weather related issues that other airlines had operating to the Chathams. As the freight and passenger market developed Air Chathams grew from operating small piston engine aircraft to large 50 seat two engine turbo-prop aircraft.
In 2014 Air Chathams established a flight operations and maintenance base at Auckland International Airport. From this base the company provides maintenance services both internally and to third party airlines under contract. A fully owned subsidiary (Chathams Pacific) operated scheduled flights in Tonga until March 2013. The introduction of Chinese (PRC) aid financed aircraft and training facilities at the request of the Tongan government introduced competition to Chathams Pacific's routes. Air Chathams management decided not to compete with the new airline, Real Tonga, and ceased all Tongan operations. Air Chathams began serving the Auckland to Whakatane route on 29 April 2015, and Auckland to Whanganui on 31 July 2016.
As of March 2017, the Air Chathams fleet includes the following aircraft:
The Britten-Norman Islander and Beechcraft Queen Air aircraft were used exclusively by the Air Chathams subsidiary, Chathams Pacific, in Tonga. The Convair 580s and the Metro III are used across the company's operations as well as contract freight services and charter work. The Cessna 206 provides a non-regular service between Chatham Island and Pitt Island and is on standby for Search And Rescue or local flights around the Chatham Islands as well.
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