Air Chathams - New Zealand Airlines

Craig Emeny gives us the story behind Air Chathams after 21 years in the business. In his own words -

ÏI was brought up in an environment of aircraft, my dad was a pilot during the Second World War. I left school at 17 and started work as an aircraft engineer. I was in the Air Training Corps and I flew a glider and I did my private pilots licence while I was in the Air Force. In January 1982 I flew a 180 out to the Chatham Islands and there I met the Pitt and Chathams community.

I flew this fairly old 1953 180 model over here with special tanks. In those days we didnÌt have an air licence so we operated out of the race course. We took down some of the fences on the side of the race course to make more room. We also had an airfield at Hapupu, another right beside the Kaingaroa township, Waitangi West, Wharekauri, Owenga, the Bluff airfield on Pitt, and Waipawa the airport they use today. We gave a twenty minute trip across to Pitt, and from Owenga it was only seven or eight minutes compared with four or five hours from Waitangi to Pitt by boat.
I was working for Port Hutt Aviation, who flew fish from Pitt Island to the fish factory on Chatham Island. The factory closed so crayfish was flown out to New Zealand. Port Hutt brought a much more modern plane from the States and I flew it back.

I became aware of the live crayfish market on the mainland and I was really starting to enjoy the Chathams. The job was not going to last so I bought my own aircraft supported by Pitt Islanders who flew their crayfish from Pitt to Arthur Kale in Gisborne. Air ChathamsÌ first aircraft was a Cessna 337 brought in October 1984! It was a five passenger seat aircraft with an engine on the front, one on the back and a twin boom. The Pitt Island community said if I bought the plane they would fly their fish off the island. This increased the price they were able to get from $6.80 a kg to $10.00 kg for their fish. The plane could fly to and from Pitt and to the mainland so we were able to do both services with that plane.

I got my own air licence in March 1985 -hence our 21st birthday. Towards end of 1986 a mishap on Pitt resulted in a broken a nose-leg which failed on landing. There were no casualties and I was able to buy another Cessna 337 and had it operating within ten days. This plane was pressurized, would fly at around 15,000-18,000 feet, was faster and had this short-landing and take-off kit on it that allowed us to take off very slowly which was very good on Pitt. Increased demand required a bigger plane so in January 1988 Tony Anderson who gave me some financial assistance and I went to United States and brought a Beach Queenair. This was a nine passenger seat, one ton freight aircraft. We operated that plane right through until 1991 and this included the charter business on the main Chathams to rugby, races and bereavement situations etc. Over that period we replaced the 337 with a Cessna 206 single engine aircraft that was better adapted to fly to Pitt. We had two planes at that stage and essentially I was still a one-man show. I would find the clients out in the mainland, get a price and then get the fishermen together. Around that time other aviation businesses looked at the live cray market here and competed for the business. At the same time the Department of Internal Affairs who owned the airport wasnÌt too happy with our service as they felt I was carrying passengers and freight that would normally be operating on their air service. They increased our airport fees so that they were three times more than the Argosy was charged. Other people on the island campaigned very hard to increase County Dues on live crays to prevent the market carrying on. So there were a few battles!

The next large event was in early 1990 when the Government announced it was withdrawing subsidies on shipping and air services to the Chathams. They proposed paying $8 million into a Trust fund on the Island for the Island to manage itself. An interim Board was put together to negotiate air services and shipping services to the Chathams.

Internal Affairs removed the subsidies in early September 1990 and Air NZ ceased the Argosy service after giving one monthÌs notice in September 1990. The Safe Air airline was disbanded and the interim Board on Chathams hired Mt Cook to come in on a charter basis to maintain the Chathams air service. We needed a better aircraft so we looked at buying a Beach 99, a 15 seat aircraft that had turbine engines, was as fast as the Argosy and could carry about one and a half ton of freight. The major stumbling block was the purchase price of $1.1 million. We were able to get the purchase together, then Vincent Aviation and Air Work also started coming in and competed against us. In October 1991 our Beach 99 was operational with a weekly schedule of twice into Wellington and once into Napier. The Cook Island National Shipping Line was also coming out of Napier at that time. Air WorkÌs Metroliner was efficient and could carry product more cost-effectively. We then decided to purchase a $3.2 million nineteen seat pressurized Metro 3 in September 1993 and set up a seven day a week air service that serviced Christchurch twice a week, Wellington three or four times week and Napier. Mt Cook was still operating their twice a week service with a Hawker Sidley 748. We flew extra flights with freight as required and Air NZ competed very strongly against us. They halved their air fares down to $185 each way, halved freight rates, hired Air Work to come in three times a week with a Metroliner plus they still did their two trips a week with their 748. They employed a full time Marketing Manger and it was going to be difficult for us. We had to pay for our $3.2million aeroplane somehow in the middle of all this but at same time it is very difficult to ask someone to pay double air fare. I met with various groups around the island, and because of our long association with the fishermen whom we had given a substantial increase to their income over the years, they supported us and most of the facilities too. This battle raged from November 1994 until January 1996. I really need to thank Ted and Bernice Lanauze on Pitt who quietly ensured all the pieces were held together behind the scenes while I was distracted flying aircraft. It was soon obvious we would need a larger aircraft that included a toilet and a flight attendant as we carrying old and very young people, and large freight items in and out of the island. It was in the middle of 1995 that we ordered our first Convair aircraft from Kelowna in British Columbia. They modified a passenger aircraft for us, installing a three metre wide freight door enabling it to be used as a passenger/freight combi; either as a forty seat passenger aircraft, or a full freight aircraft, or a combination of both! It was a huge surprise to the whole of New Zealand when Air NZ and Mt Cook announced they were going to pull out of the air service to Chathams at the end of January 1996. We got the Convair operational in July 96 servicing Wellington three to four times a week and we operated the Metroliner a couple of times a week out of Christchurch. We continued that schedule until 1997.

It was at this time I made the decision we needed to retain more than one aircraft. I was meant to sell the Metroliner under terms of the purchase of the Convair - but somehow never found a buyer for it. In fact I ended up in late 1997 and 1998 getting some quite good contracts with Ansett Air Freight and Air National and was able to use the Metro to support the Chatham Island planes during maintenance or breakdowns. The Metro was used by Origin Pacific in 1999 and has been used for scheduled air services in New Zealand. For the last three or four years we have operated a second metro liner on night freight and day charters for passenger services in New Zealand and that employs sixteen of our crew members to date. As the Metro got busier and busier and less available the Chathams really demanded a Convair all the time (Metro didnÌt have a flight attendant and so on), so we then purchased the Convair KSA that we had been operating for another group in Cairns. Air Freight NZ (Convair freighters) needed extra capacity and we were able to loan a Chatham plane during the evenings. That freight run continued until 2004 until they purchased another freighter of their own. That just made all the difference for us. Allowed us to buy more spares and finally build an office to work from instead of the tiny garage we had always used.

In September 2004 we purchased a freight Convair aircraft, all the tools and spares from Bahrain.

At the beginning of 1995 a CAA requirement mandated a certain amount of training be carried out in a flight simulator every year. I heard there was a flight simulator in Alaska and I rang them in February 2005. They were operating two Convairs and I asked if their simulator was gong to be available. They said if you buy two aeroplanes and spares you can have the simulator as well. Hence we became the proud owners of two more fifty seat Convairs - CIE and CIF. Sadly we have sold the Convair KSA to Pionair who are now operating the aircraft in Australia. In March 2006 we received the CAA certification for our simulator. New Zealand operators in the mainland will now be able to use our Convair simulator instead of going to Canada. This makes the Chathams an aircraft training centre!

We now operate the trusty Convair CIB on the Chathams, with the CIE supporting Chathams and doing charters in NZ, the CIF in Tonga, the CID freighter is in storage at the moment, the Metro is still operating with Origin Pacific and the Cessna 206 provides the service to Pitt.

On the Chathams Air Chathams employs four Chatham based pilots, one full-time and two part-time flight attendants, two full-time and four part-time office/cleaner/caretaker/ground staff and four people on ground handling at the airport.

In mainland New Zealand there is a freight Manager at Christchurch, Wellington, and Auckland, and a full time engineer to provide maintenance control and another twenty or so staff attached to the Metroliner and charter services throughout New Zealand. In Tonga there are two pilots and an engineer. Also we employ an Operations Manager, a Flight Operations Assistant and a Quality Manager.
At the end of the day it is the Chathams that Air Chathams is all about and it is a team of people that can be relied on.Ó