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A Barrier Air Cessna Grand Caravan sits on the tarmac at Kerikeri Island Bay Airport.
photo: Peter DeGraaf/RNZ
Competition has emerged on Northland’s busiest air route as the first Barrier Air flight from Auckland to Kerikeri landed at Bay of Islands Airport just before 7pm on Sunday.
The first passenger to get off the plane was Chris Hoffman from Kerikeri County, who was delighted to be able to choose which airline he flew with for the first time in years.
“It was a great flight. I chose Barrier Air to support a new airline and the extra competition that Kerikeri will have. I fly with them regularly from Kaitaia so it was great to see they had a new base in the north,” Hoffman said.
Chris Hoffmann was the first passenger on Barrier Air’s inaugural flight to Kerikeri and was given a warm welcome at the Bay of Islands Airport.
photo: Peter DeGraaf/RNZ
Another passenger said she had planned to drive to Kerikeri to visit her best friend but changed her mind when she found out she could fly with Barrier Air for a third of the price of Air New Zealand.
After an overnight in Kerikeri, board the airline’s 12-passenger Cessna Caravan Will go back and forth twice Monday; departs Kerikeri at 6:45am and 1:45pm, departs Auckland at 12:30pm and 5:15pm.
Initially, Barrier Air will operate 11 round-trip flights per week, but may increase the number of flights if demand is high enough.
The airline carries 15,000 passengers a year between Kaitaia and Auckland – a route taken up when Air New Zealand pulled out of the country’s northernmost airport in 2015 – but the Kerikeri service is the first time the airline has gone head-to-head with the national carrier in Northland.
Also on the inaugural flight to Kerikeri was Barrier Air general manager Karen Pascoe, who said she was “very excited” about the additional routes between Northland and Auckland.
“The inaugural flight is fully booked. The response has been fantastic and our social media has been blowing up. It’s very encouraging,” she said.
“We came to Kerikeri because our customers asked us to give it a try and bring more opportunities to Northland. It gives people the option of going on holiday to Northland, or visiting family in Auckland or travelling overseas.”
Barrier Air crew, from left to right, Susan Wintraecken and Antonia Cathcart, and general manager Karen Pascoe.
photo: Peter DeGraaf/RNZ
Pascoe admitted that acquiring Air New Zealand would not be easy.
“Big Brother is always there, but we are just following the orders of the North. We will try our best.”
Previously, chief executive Grant Bacon told Radio New Zealand it made sense to expand Barrier Air’s services to the largest towns in the Far North.
“We think if we’re going to continue to grow, Kerikeri is the next logical choice. It’s a bit of a distance from Auckland and the Far North market needs options, especially Kerikeri.”
Market feedback shows Bay of Islands residents want more choice, fairer prices and greater choice following Air New Zealand flight cancellations.
Mr Bacon said if the Kerikeri route went well, the airline would consider expanding to Whangarei.
Northlanders have been frustrated by Air New Zealand’s high rate of flight cancellations in recent years.
In the 2023-24 financial year, 6.5 per cent of national airline flights to Northland, or one in 15 flights, were cancelled. Just under 5 per cent of flights to Kerikeri, or one in 20 flights, were cancelled.
However, Air New Zealand said its Kerikeri flight cancellation rate was just 1.7 per cent in the first four months of this year, or 20 flights out of a total of 1178.
The airline said measures taken to improve flight reliability include adding a 68-seat ATR-72 aircraft to its Kerikeri service in April this year.
The last time there was competition on the Auckland-Kerikeri route was from 2008-12, when Paihia-based company Salt Air operated daily return flights between the Bay of Islands and North Shore Airport.
Flight Hauraki and North Shore Air offered similar but short-lived services in 2012 and 2015 respectively.
Barrier Airlines also flies to the North Shore, Whitianga, Tauranga and its birthplace, Aotea Great Barrier Island.
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