KRA is considering regular charter flights to Te Anau and Wanaka as soon as next summer, and also has a plan involving Alexandra Airport. Scheduled flights into Te Anau were also possible later, KRA route network planner Dave Macpherson said this week.
Under-used Te Anau Airport, which has not had scheduled flights since 2000, was bought by the Southland District Council in 2002 and got a $7.1 million upgrade, including a new terminal, apron and car park.
Ewan Wilson, who previously operated the failed Kiwi International Airlines in the 1990s, hopes his new airline will begin flying in September, as soon as Civil Aviation Authority certification is received.
That process would begin on May 27 with a preliminary meeting ''to paint our vision'' and would cost KRA at least $250,000, he said on Tuesday. The company also had an option to buy a Saab aircraft for about $US1.5 million ($NZ2 million).
KRA was concentrating first on its core route, a return Dunedin/Queenstown/Nelson service connecting to a North Island base, possibly Rotorua or Hamilton, where KRA had its headquarters, he said.
However, Mr Wilson said Te Anau and Wanaka were ''definitely on the list of potential destinations'' for regular charter flights.
A daily core flight was planned eventually, but it might not be daily initially until passenger numbers grew, he said. That would give KRA the capacity to begin charter flights sooner rather than later.
Flights to Te Anau could begin over summer, while there was potential for weekend ski charter flights into Wanaka over the 2016 winter. Mr Wilson said KRA ''had chosen the most difficult airport in the country'' for its core route - Queenstown - which had
navigational and weather issues. Wanaka and Alexandra were both being investigated as bad weather alternatives to Queenstown, with Wanaka the most logical alternative.
Te Anau Airport manager Evan Pearce, who is also a pilot, said Mr Macpherson first contacted him two months ago and they had discussions about charter flights and a possible Christchurch-Te Anau return scheduled service.
''It's quite neat that they might fly here ... It would be lovely for our terminal to get more use.''
Last year 945 planes carrying 1405 passengers landed, he said. The main airport user was a ''closed charter'' operator bringing in tourists twice a week between August and May.
Mr Wilson said although KRA was unable to accept passenger bookings until it received certification, public response to the new company had been positive.
The media had focused on his involvement with Kiwi International Airlines, which he said was ''understandable''.
That company pioneered discounted transtasman flights but tough competition resulted in its collapse in 1996, stranding passengers in Australia and New Zealand. Mr Wilson was later convicted on four fraud charges.
He said this week KRA was a ''different airline'' which ''knows its own limitations''.
''I learnt 20 years ago that you take on Air New Zealand at your peril. This time we will launch slowly with one plane and add routes and another plane when the demand is there.
''Our critical point of difference is that we will fly region to region [bypassing main hub airports]. If we live within that niche and grow slowly, we will be all right.''
