NZ regional airline Sounds Air cuts routes
New Zealand regional airline Sounds Air is cutting routes, citing ‘out of control’ costs.
The airline will scrap the Blenheim to Christchurch and Christchurch to Wānaka routes from late September.
It cancelled two Wellington routes several months ago and sold an aircraft to reign in costs.
“In the last three months, we’ve had another half a million dollars of annual costs imposed on the business and at some point, you’ve just got to say ‘no more,” Sounds Air managing director Andrew Crawford said.
The focus will now revert to its core regional services, and it will sell its fleet of five Pilatus aircraft.
It will mean the loss of 10 jobs from its Wānaka and Christchurch airport bases.
Crawford said passenger traffic is up but the high costs are close to making the business unviable.
Another restrictive cost impacting demand is the recent hike of the passenger service levy, he said.
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