Paul Phelan/CAIRNS
A fleet of five to six Boeing 737-400s or Airbus A320s, and 13-14 Aero International (Regional) (AI(R)) ATR 72s, calculates one air-transport analyst, would far better fit Air New Zealand's (ANZ) entire domestic operation and its low-capacity trans-Tasman capacity demands than do the existing combined fleets of ANZ Domestic and ANZ subsidiary Mount Cook Airline.
In that scenario, ANZ-owned Air Nelson and Eagle Airways would continue to provide local feeder services and low-capacity hub bypass, while Mount Cook Airline would take up extra domestic routes, adding a further six or seven ATR 72s to the seven it now operates.
ANZ's fleet of 11 ageing 737-200s would be replaced with a smaller number of Airbus or Boeing aircraft in the 140-seat range for trunk domestic services, and on secondary New Zealand-Australia routes which cannot support widebodies. The range of options is believed now to be under the close scrutiny of Air New Zealand.
Mount Cook Airline, also wholly owned by ANZ, but with its own discrete flight-operations department and enjoying the low overheads typical of regional carriers, is already well positioned for any such expanded role. Built on the firm foundation of New Zealand's tourism industry, it easily dominates the country's regional-route structure following rationalisation of jet-aircraft operations by Ansett and Air New Zealand on some relatively major routes.
That began with a re-allocation of jet-aircraft and turboprop resources across the combined ANZ group fleet, explains Mount Cook's flight-operations manager, Capt John Jones. "Air New Zealand's route structure was considerably re-arranged, with Mount Cook downsizing its operations on the tourist network to some extent to pick up more domestic regional services to major centres like Invercargill and Dunedin, and more short-haul trunk route flying such as Christchurch-Wellington. The 737s were moving on to some of the busier tourist routes, and the re-organisation, by the group's strategic planners, was aimed at making the best use of resources," he says.
Mount Cook Airline is now likely to undergo further growth. The whole group faces a challenge to retain its market position as its Qantas/ British Airways rivals strive to establish a cost-effective alternative on key regional tourism and domestic trunk routes. Air New Zealand and its wholly owned link carriers now account for 68-70% of the domestic passenger market, estimated to total about $662 million annually. Although Ansett New Zealand accounts for closer to 50% on trunk routes, this translates to an unusually large international passenger on-carriage volume in the country's largely tourism-driven airline system.
Ownership of Air Nelson, Eagle Air and a diverse fleet of ski-equipped and other sightseeing general-aviation aircraft and helicopters, all integrated into the group's internationally marketed tourism products, further strengthens its position. (Although Mount Cook Airline and the general-aviation operations now share the same air-operator certificate, that is about to change, along with a major regulatory review.)
The fleet renewal which replaced eight elderly 44-seat Hawker Siddeley 748s with seven ATR 72s, each configured at 66 seats, was carefully researched and executed with no major hitches, and the 31% capacity increase has already heightened the regional carrier's profile on domestic routes. Productivity was almost doubled, says Jones, because the ATRs are one-third faster, only marginally heavier and carry 50% more passengers per aircraft while consuming one-third less fuel. Aircraft in the fleet are each flown for about 3,150h a year, and the new fleet also offers opportunities for further boosts in productivity by using existing spare capacity.
Jones says that a lengthy and detailed study eventually made the ATR 72 decision the obvious one. A key factor was the high percentage of international tourists among Mount Cook Airline's passengers carrying skis and other bulky holiday equipment, and the perceived necessity for "seamless" travel, with equivalent cabin space and carry-on baggage capacity, which disqualified some commuter types.
Passenger acceptance
Because the project would replace jet aircraft with turboprops on some routes, passenger acceptance was critical, and was not taken for granted. Jones says: "Some customers initially had local politicians saying how bad it was to go backwards from jet to turboprop, but that's stopped now, and we get much more positive feedback than negative. Our competitor had already withdrawn jets from some routes, which made the necessary change easier. One of the benefits of the ATR is that we've been able to provide a jet-comfort level and close to jet speeds. On our relatively short sectors, the average person doesn't notice the difference in flight times, and the comfort level at 800mm seat pitch is at least equal." Mount Cook's shortest route sector is 145km (80nm), and its longest (from Invercargill to Christchurch) is 70min.
Operationally, too, Jones reports, the ATRs have done better than match expectations. "Our operating environment featured some specific conditions which eliminated several types. Jets were ruled out on the basis of inadequate runway width. There were procedures that could be developed around the capabilities of other turboprops to solve some of the problems, but they were pretty long-winded and, with the ATR, there was no need. The sealed runway at Mount Cook is only 14m wide, and the flight strip is 90m; but we can operate the ATR down to about 12m runway width."
Furthermore, Mount Cook, a key airport in the route structure, is in a national park, which would make it difficult to re-align and widen the runway. "We have very difficult terrain there as well as in some other areas. We had to be able to operate inside the valleys, which required relatively tight-turning radii in the engine-out case after take-off. Once again, Mount Cook was the critical airfield. The aircraft has to be able to maintain a V2 [climb safety] speed of just under 120kt [220km/h], while making the required terrain clearance turn after take-off. To achieve that, you either have to turn at 15í of bank, or, if you tighten it up to 20í of bank, you have to increase your V2 to accommodate the extra bank angle. You then have to accelerate to the higher V2 speed, and that takes up a lot of space, which we don't necessarily have."
Another factor to survive close company scrutiny was airframe icing, which was prominent in the world headlines during the selection process, says Jones. "That was one of the things we had to be sure about. We went to Toulouse, in France, flew an aeroplane around over the Pyrenees from cloud to cloud, picking up as much ice as we could, and really loaded it up. We stalled it in all configurations - power on and off, flaps down and up, and we never had a problem with it. The aeroplane was totally controllable, and I was completely comfortable with it. Even ice on the aft section of the wing was no problem: it still has a fantastic rate of roll. I've flown ATRs on routes here where the icing conditions are sometimes quite bad, and we have had no need to impose operational restrictions on icing conditions," he says.
Icing is one important reason why operations in New Zealand's mountainous terrain demand ample performance margins. Climbing at well over 2,000ft/m (11.6m/s) in typical conditions, the ATRs are normally through the icing level in about 2min, with no reduction in performance, says Jones, who researched the topic with other operators and provided input to the US Federal Aviation Administration's safety document How to fly in icing.
The airline values cockpit-crew experience highly, and does not suffer the "poaching" of crews by its parent carrier, as do some regionals. Jones holds that to be critical to the operation, where extensive local knowledge and a body of accumulated skills is relied upon. In the mountainous South Island, for example, minimum en route instrument-flight-rules (IFR) altitudes are commonly around 10,000ft (3,000m), and visual-flight-rules (VFR) approaches and departures in valleys in marginal weather are common, along with flight at reduced speeds in mountain turbulence.
operating procedures
Those operations, insists Jones, can be carried out in perfect safety under the company's standard operating procedures. "Quite often, an IFR approach is a waste of time, and only VFR will get you into your destination. Mount Cook and Queenstown, especially, require an enormous amount of experience to operate successfully. For example, at Mount Cook, the nearest beacon is 53km away, so in bad weather when it's VFR up the valleys, it's critical that the pilots have local knowledge. The local knowledge and mountain experience is built up over years, some of it learned by mistakes. You can even predict the location of turbulence, according to wind direction, once you've been in the area for a few years. We have turning points on each VFR route and, if you're over a turning point and can't see the next ahead, you simply don't proceed, so the aircraft is configured with flap for low-speed flight in a narrow valley and positioned to turn away. It's a very safe operation, but if you put a pilot who's not used to working in the mountains, he doesn't like it," explains Jones.
Transition to the ATRs created no unexpected difficulties, reports Jones. "It required and received tremendous co-operation from engineering and flight-operations staff over a five-month period. All our existing 748 crews did their initial training in Toulouse, and, interestingly, we carried our operation through and trained our pilots without taking on any additional employees. There are just over seven pilots to one ATR, each flying about 800-900h/year. Air New Zealand does all our maintenance, and we have only about six here in head office. You have to watch the overheads in an operation like this."
Source: Flight International
