Air Safaris (New Zealand airline)
Air Safaris (New Zealand airline)
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| Founded | 1970 (1970) | ||||||
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| Hubs | Lake Tekapo | ||||||
| Fleet size | 8 | ||||||
| Destinations | 5 (charter) | ||||||
| Headquarters | Lake Tekapo, New Zealand | ||||||
| Key people |
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| Website | http://www.airsafaris.co.nz/ | ||||||
Air Safaris is a New Zealand scenic flight and air charter company based at the Lake Tekapo Airport located 2.8 km west of the town of Lake Tekapo, off State Highway 8 in the Mackenzie District of New Zealand.[4][5] The airline operates from 5 bases the Lake Tekapo, Franz Josef, Glentanner, Twizel and Mt Cook airports. The company logo is a stylised chamois; these are wild goat-like antelope which inhabits the region of the South Island High Country.
Contents
1 History
2 Accidents and incidents
3 Fleet
4 Services
5 Gallery
6 See also
7 References
8 External links
History[edit]
Air Safaris was established in 1970 at Mesopotamia station to take hunters and hikers into the mountain areas of the South Island. They moved their operations to Lake Tekapo in 1974.
The company has used a wide variety of aircraft: first the Cessna 180, then later the larger Cessna 185, and in 1975 the Cessna 206 and 207. In 1978 the Pilatus Porters arrived fitted with skis that could land and take off on glaciers and snowfields and as demand increased for scenic flights, the 15 seat GAF Nomad entered the fleet in 1981 for use at Lake Tekapo, Glentanner, Franz Josef and Milford Sound airports. On 17 December 1987 the airline purchased Air Timaru and continued to run its services from Timaru to Oamaru and Invercargill using a Piper PA31 Navajo aircraft.[6] Air Safaris were the first company in New Zealand to buy the Gippsland Airvan in 2009.[7]
From 1991 to 1996 one of the Nomads was used from Timaru to fly the Air Nelson scheduled service to Christchurch as part of their Air New Zealand Link operation. The contract was for Air Safaris to provide two week day return services, Air Nelson also used them between Christchurch and Hokitika and Mount Cook Airlines for flights south of Christchurch as a back up capacity although all these services have since been discontinued.[8][9]
In 1996 Air Safaris won an award from the Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand for safety. Director Kevin Ward said that the 1996 winning organisation, Air Safaris and Services (NZ), "...set standards, and fly to them..".[10][11]
2002 Air Safaris along with the other members of ‘Tourism Flight Operators New Zealand’ were awarded the Director of Civil Aviation Organisation Award for their efforts towards increasing safety standards. The Director of Civil Aviation John Jones said the Tourism Flight Operators New Zealand was “pursuing standards that will qualify members for the Tourism New Zealand Qualmark brand.”[12]
The airline has recently completed a major development at Pukaki airport near Twizel to enable it to offer scenic flights. It has involved construction of a sealed turning bay off the adjacent aircraft taxiway, and a parking area for company aircraft.[13]
In 2013 Air Safaris added a Robinson R44 helicopter to their fleet and began operating scenic helicopter flights in addition to their fixed wing services.
Accidents and incidents[edit]
On 14 September 1998 an Air Safaris Cessna 177B Cardinal, ZK-DKL, crashed in the Mount Cook area while on a scenic flight, killing the pilot and 2 passengers on board. It struck a snow-covered mountain face 11 km northeast of Mount Cook at 11.52 am. The aeroplane was damaged beyond repair. The cause of this accident has not been determined.[14][15][16]
Fleet[edit]
The GAF N24A Nomad is the largest aircraft in the fleet and is complemented by the smaller Cessna 208B and GA8 Airvan airliners.[17] The 10 seater Pilatus PC-6 Turbo Porter was previously used from 1978 and the Cessna 185 and 206 were the first aircraft in Air Safaris fleet these have since been retired.[7]
| Aircraft | Number | Passengers | Registrations |
|---|---|---|---|
Cessna 208B Grand Caravan | 2 | 13 | ZK-SRI, ZK-SRX |
GA8 Airvan | 3 | 7 | ZK-SAE, ZK-SAU, ZK-SAZ |
GAF N24A Nomad | 2 | 15 | ZK-NMD, ZK-NME |
Bell 206 Longranger | 1 | 6 | ZK-ICO |
Services[edit]
Air Safaris operate a range of services including: Scenic flights around the Mount Cook and Westland National Parks, charter flight services available from their two bases in Lake Tekapo and Franz Josef to many airports around New Zealand and other commercial flights including photography and filming, freight, survey and remote access work. The Lake Tekapo Link are Charter flights that are available from both Christchurch and Queenstown airports to Lake Tekapo. These are for passengers who wish to use the scenic flights of Air Safaris such as the Grand Traverse experience.[18]
Gallery[edit]
All 3 Air Safaris GAF Nomads together seen here at Glentanner airport, 1995
Air Safaris Grand Caravan at Tekapo, 2014
Air Safaris Nomad outside hangar at Tekapo, 2014
Air Safaris Nomad on gate 3 at Christchurch Airport December 2014.
See also[edit]
- Air transport in New Zealand
- List of airlines of New Zealand
- List of general aviation operators of New Zealand
References[edit]
^ Not an ICAO allocation – issued for domestic use by the Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand
^ "Operator Callsigns" (PDF). Web.archive.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-08-08. Retrieved 2017-03-11..mw-parser-output cite.citationfont-style:inherit.mw-parser-output .citation qquotes:"""""""'""'".mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-free abackground:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-registration abackground:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-subscription abackground:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registrationcolor:#555.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration spanborder-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon abackground:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg/12px-Wikisource-logo.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center.mw-parser-output code.cs1-codecolor:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-errordisplay:none;font-size:100%.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-errorfont-size:100%.mw-parser-output .cs1-maintdisplay:none;color:#33aa33;margin-left:0.3em.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-formatfont-size:95%.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-leftpadding-left:0.2em.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-rightpadding-right:0.2em
^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 9 February 2013. Retrieved 2012-05-15.CS1 maint: Archived copy as title (link)
^ "AvDocClientList | Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand websiteCaa.govt.nz". Retrieved 2017-03-11.
^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2 March 2012. Retrieved 2012-05-10.CS1 maint: Archived copy as title (link)
^ L, Steve (5 August 2012). "3rd Level New Zealand: Air Timaru - "The Friendly Line"". 3rdlevelnz.blogspot.com.au. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
^ ab "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 28 April 2009. Retrieved 2012-06-08.CS1 maint: Archived copy as title (link)
^ "1998 | 0252 | Flight Archive". Flightglobal.com. 1998-02-03. Retrieved 2017-03-11.
^ "3rd Level New Zealand: Air Safaris Sole Schedule". 3rdlevelnz.blogspot.com.au. 2010-06-18. Retrieved 2017-03-11.
^ "1998 | 0251 | Flight Archive". Flightglobal.com. 1998-02-03. Retrieved 2017-03-11.
^ "The Right Way". Flight International. 28 January 1998. p. 33.
^ [1] Archived 8 May 2015 at the Wayback Machine
^ "Airline set to take wing from Twizel". Stuff.co.nz. 2013-02-22. Retrieved 2017-03-11.
^ "ASN Aircraft accident 14-SEP-1998 Cessna 177B ZK-DKL". Aviation-safety.net. Retrieved 2017-03-11.
^ "Accident Details". Planecrashinfo.com. Retrieved 2017-03-11.
^ "Aircrashed.com". Aircrashed.com. Retrieved 2017-03-11.
^ "New Zealand Tourist Flight Operators Air Safaris New Zealand". Airsafaris.co.nz. Retrieved 2017-03-11.
^ "Lake Tekapo Link: Christchurch-Tekapo-Queenstown". Air Safaris. Retrieved 14 July 2015.
External links[edit]
- Official website
Categories:
- Airlines of New Zealand
- Airlines established in 1970
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