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 __NOTOC__ Lake Tekapo ( mi, Takapō) is the second-largest of three roughly parallel lakes running north–south along the northern edge of the Mackenzie Basin in the South Island of New Zealand (the others are Lake Pukaki and Lake Ohau). ...

, off State Highway 8 in the

Mackenzie District Mackenzie District is a local government district on New Zealand's South Island, administered by the Mackenzie District Council. It is part of the larger Canterbury Region. Geography Principal settlements The Mackenzie District only has three t ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. 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 Porter The Pilatus PC-6 Porter is a single-engined STOL utility aircraft designed by Pilatus Aircraft of Switzerland. First flown in 1959, the PC-6 was produced at Pilatus Flugzeugwerke in Stans, Switzerland. It has been built in both piston engine- ...

s 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 The GAF Nomad is a utility aircraft produced by the Government Aircraft Factories (GAF) of Australia in Melbourne. Supported by the Australian Government, design work began in the mid-1960s, and it made its maiden flight on 23 July 1971. Despi ...

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. Air Safaris were the first company in New Zealand to buy the Gippsland Airvan in 2009. From 1991 to 1996, one of the Nomads was used from

Timaru Timaru (; mi, Te Tihi-o-Maru) is a port city in the southern Canterbury Region of New Zealand, located southwest of Christchurch and about northeast of Dunedin on the eastern Pacific coast of the South Island. The Timaru urban area is home to ...

to fly the

Air Nelson Air Nelson was a regional airline based in Nelson, New Zealand. It was founded as an independent airline in 1979. Air New Zealand took a 50% shareholding in 1988 and 100% ownership in 1995. Air Nelson operated services on provincial routes under ...

scheduled service to

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...

as part of their

Air New Zealand Link Air New Zealand Link was a brand name under which Air New Zealand's subsidiary regional airlines operated flights. They primarily connected regional centres with New Zealand's three main international airports, Auckland Airport, Wellington Intern ...

operation. The contract was for Air Safaris to provide two-week day return services, Air Nelson also used them between

and

Hokitika Hokitika is a town in the West Coast region of New Zealand's South Island, south of Greymouth, and close to the mouth of the Hokitika River. It is the seat and largest town in the Westland District. The town's estimated population is as of ...

and

Mount Cook Airlines Mount Cook Airline was a regional airline based in Christchurch, New Zealand. Formerly part of the Mount Cook Group and latterly a subsidiary of Air New Zealand, it operated scheduled services throughout the country under the Air New Zealand L ...

for flights south of Christchurch as a backup capacity although all these services have since been discontinued. 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.."''. 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".
The airline has recently completed a major development at Pukaki airport near

Twizel Twizel () is the largest town in the Mackenzie District, in the Canterbury Region of the South Island of New Zealand. The town was founded in 1968 to house construction workers on the Upper Waitaki Hydroelectric Scheme. Today, Twizel is a se ...

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. 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.

Fleet

The GAF N24A Nomad is the largest aircraft in the fleet and is complemented by the smaller Cessna 208B and GA8 Airvan airliners. 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.

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

and Queenstown airports to

. These are for passengers who wish to use the scenic flights of Air Safaris such as the Grand Traverse experience.

Gallery

File:Air Safaris 3 Nomads.jpg, All 3 Air Safaris GAF Nomads together seen here at Glentanner airport, 1995 File:Air Safaris Grand Caravan.jpg, Air Safaris Grand Caravan at Tekapo, 2014 File:Gaf Nomad by Hangar.jpg, Air Safaris Nomad outside hangar at Tekapo, 2014 File:Air Safaris at CHC.jpg, Air Safaris Nomad on gate 3 at Christchurch Airport December 2014.

References

External links

* {{Airlines of New Zealand Airlines of New Zealand Airlines established in 1970 New Zealand companies established in 1970