10 March 2012

Kiwi Air flying over the Blocked Gorge


With the Waioeka Gorge, between Gisborne and Opotiki closed for a week now, and likely to be closed for at least a further three weeks Gisborne based Kiwi Air has stepped in to offer passengers and freight an alternative to being rerouted through Wairoa or Napier.

Kiwi Air had taken up the initiative by offering passenger and freight services to Optiki, Whakatane and Tauranga. Their plane can carry passengers groups up to 9 or 1.8 tonnes of freight. One of Kiwi Air’s owners Katie Edwards said they were responding to a need. So far, they had received phone calls from groups of people who needed to go to the Bay of Plenty for personal reasons or business. They have also approached freight companies. “We just started calling around to let them know we can fly freight through to Opotiki and Whakatane for them, and then their trucks can take it onwards from there.” The requests for one or two passengers had been referred to Air Gisborne. One of Air Gisborne’s owners Bronwyn Reid said they were compiling a list of people so they could work out flights and get them to the Bay of Plenty and back.

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