Air Chathams A Convair-sation Starter

摘要

I have a passion for rare airliner types and the chance to experience flying on a Convair 580 was too much to resist, so early last year before the COVID-19 pandemic Daniel Gaston and I made the long trip from the UK to New Zealand. The Convair 580s are operated by Air Chathams, a small airline that takes its name from the Chatham Islands, located approximately 800km east of New Zealand. The archipelago consists of ten islands - Chatham Island, where the airport is located, and Pitt Island are the main ones. It has around 600 residents and has its own time zone of GMT+12hrs 45mins. The principal sources of income for the residents are farming, fishing and tourism. Most supplies and livestock come and go on a few small container ship sailings each month, though there is also the vital airlink to the New Zealand cities of Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington. Air Chathams have used the Convair 580 to the islands since 1996. Before the pandemic there were about four to six services a week depending on the time of year.