Air Chathams receives ‘new’ Saab 340 from Canada

Last week while Qantas was pulling off its record breaking proving flights between Melbourne and Toulouse, and Glenorchy Air was flying its new tiny 9-seat twin from the United States to New Zealand, Air Chathams took delivery of it’s seventh Saab 340 aircraft.

The aircraft began it’s journey in Saskatoon, Canada flying to Oakland then onto Hawaii, Apia and finally Auckland.

The airline contracted an Australian aircraft delivery specialist called BJM Ferry which handled the lengthy ferry flight to New Zealand. BJM Ferry handled everything including deciding a route, providing crews and actually flying the aircraft.

The Saab 340 originally carried the registration C-GTJX. For the ferry flights, the aircraft was registered as VH-22I and now it’s in New Zealand, it will be registered as ZK-CIR. The plane is 36 years old and has flown for several airlines in North America.

ZK-CIR has 9 fewer seats than Air Chathams’ other Saabs which all have 34 seats compared to CIR’s 25. This is because the rear cargo compartment has been expanded to allow for extra cargo carrying capacity. Because of this, it will be used on their flights to the Chatham Islands for the extra cargo capacity.

To make the long journey, two additional fuel bladders were added to the aircraft. One in the rear cargo compartment with a second in the front of the cabin.

While the longest sector is Thursday night's flight from Hawaii to Samoa – about 2300 nautical miles (4259km) – Jayden Beck, Head of Flight Operations at Air Chathams says it is actually the Oakland-to-Hawaii leg that presents the greatest risk due to a lack of airports to divert to. "That is nine hours flying, and if you are halfway, there's nowhere to land. It's go back or continue."

Now it’s in Auckland, the aircraft will spend around three months being stripped apart and put back together to ensure everything is up to Air Chathams’ and the Civil Aviation Authority’s standards.

In mid-2023, the airline brought three ex-REX Saabs, one of which was scrapped for parts. Air Chatham’s currently has five Saab 340s, although one of which is currently parked at Auckland to undergo maintenance and one is overseas in Tonga under a wet-lease to Lulutai Airlines.

Air Chathams also operates two ex-Air New Zealand ATR 72-500s although one of these is being sold amid fierce economic issues.

Earlier this year, they were forced to suspend flights between Auckland and Kapiti and reduced the number of flights on other North Island routes due to the soaring price of fuel.