Air Safaris
IATA ICAO Callsign
– SRI[1] AIRSAFARI[2]
Founded1970 (1970)
HubsLake Tekapo
Fleet size8
Destinations5 (charter)
HeadquartersLake Tekapo, New Zealand
Key people
  • Tim Rayward (Managing Director)
  • Richard Rayward (CEO)[3]
Websitehttp://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: 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.

History

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 PA-31 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 backup 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]

In 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

  • 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

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]

AirSafaris Fleet
Aircraft Number Passengers
Cessna 208B Grand Caravan 2 13
GA8 Airvan 3 7
GAF N24A Nomad 2 15
Bell 206 Long Ranger 1 6

Services

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]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Not an ICAO allocation – issued for domestic use by the Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand
  2. ↑ "Operator Callsigns" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 August 2007. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
  3. ↑ "Air Safaris | Tourism Export Council of New Zealand". Archived from the original on 9 February 2013. Retrieved 15 May 2012.
  4. ↑ "AvDocClientList | Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand websiteCaa.govt.nz". Archived from the original on 6 August 2017. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
  5. ↑ "Lake Tekapo Activity - Air Safaris and Services (NZ) Ltd". Archived from the original on 2 March 2012. Retrieved 10 May 2012.
  6. ↑ L, Steve (5 August 2012). "3rd Level New Zealand: Air Timaru - "The Friendly Line"". 3rdlevelnz.blogspot.com.au. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
  7. 1 2 "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 28 April 2009. Retrieved 8 June 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  8. ↑ "1998 | 0252 | Flight Archive". Flightglobal.com. 3 February 1998. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
  9. ↑ "3rd Level New Zealand: Air Safaris Sole Schedule". 3rdlevelnz.blogspot.com.au. 18 June 2010.
  10. ↑ "1998 | 0251 | Flight Archive". Flightglobal.com. 3 February 1998.
  11. ↑ "The Right Way". Flight International. 28 January 1998. p. 33.
  12. ↑ Archived 8 May 2015 at the Wayback Machine
  13. ↑ "Airline set to take wing from Twizel". Stuff.co.nz. 22 February 2013.
  14. ↑ "ASN Aircraft accident 14-SEP-1998 Cessna 177B ZK-DKL". Aviation-safety.net. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
  15. ↑ "Accident Details". Planecrashinfo.com. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
  16. ↑ "Aircrashed.com". Aircrashed.com. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
  17. ↑ "New Zealand Tourist Flight Operators Air Safaris New Zealand". Airsafaris.co.nz. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
  18. ↑ "Lake Tekapo Link: Christchurch-Tekapo-Queenstown". Air Safaris. Retrieved 14 July 2015.
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