Tim King

and it's other geographical challenges you can't drive around it so you literally have to drive if you're driving to golden bay you have to drive to golden bay and drive back same if you drive south of murchison so it's not like there's a circular way around the region it's very much those two directions

So we have three airports or aerodromes.

We have Nelson Airport, obviously, the main airport, which is located in Nelson City, but serves obviously the majority of the whole district.

Then we have Moriwaka and also Takaka.

Motowaka doesn't have an airline service.

So it has Aero Club, has the Nelson Aeronautical College, and it has skydiving and a number of private planes, etc.

Takaka Airport has Golden Bay Air, provides a service in and out of Takaka.

And then in Nelson, there's Air New Zealand, Origin Air and Sounds Air.

Yeah, I think all the airlines are crucial to our region in different ways.

Golden Bay Air, as well as providing that service into Golden Bay, the most critical thing for Tākeke is there's only one road in and out of Tākeke.

And it's over the Takaka Hill.

And that has been subject to some significant damage historically from weather events.

So the only other options are air travel in and out of Takaka Airport or by sea in and out of Port Tarakohe.

It would certainly be an impact on the Golden Bay community to not have a direct airline providing regular services to the destinations that it does.

And in terms of emergency response, I mean, obviously that can be provided regularly.

a range of different ways in the event of an emergency.

The critical thing there is having a runway for someone to land planes to provide a connection in and out if the road connection is cut.

So, look, it would certainly be disappointing, but like so many other parts of the country, I guess people in Golden Bay would have to, as many already have to do, because, I mean, Golden Bay Air Service, while great for the Tākehā community, is limited just...

Because it is, it's a small regional airline.

So many people still have to come over to Nelson as they do from the southern end of the region where there isn't an equivalent aerodrome or runway.