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This weekend, Air New Zealand's fully owned subsidiary airline, Air
Nelson, welcomes a new 33 seat Saab aircraft to its fleet bringing the total
number to 17 Saab-340A aircraft.
The aircraft will arrive in Nelson after a delivery flight from
Visby, Sweden, with stopovers at Cairo, Muscat, Columbo, Cocos Island, Port
Hedland W.A and Sydney, and will enter service on Air Nelson's regional New
Zealand network during January 2004.
Air Nelson general manager John Hambleton said the airline welcomed
the additional capacity the aircraft would provide.
"Our service and passenger numbers have risen substantially over the
past year largely as a result of the reduced cost of air travel under Express
Class. Air Nelson implemented a new timetable last month with a 12% increase
in the number of services offered.
"Having an extra aircraft will enable us to provide further additional
flights during seasonal peaks and be additional back up during periods of
planned heavy maintenance of our aircraft," he said.
Air Nelson
has said it will be recruiting an additional seven pilots and four cabin
crew which will grow its Napier base to 24 pilots and 12 cabin crew.
The aircraft will be operated under a leasing arrangement from Skyways
Aviation through its sister company in Sweden, Skyways Express. |
