Mainland Air's service between Dunedin and Central Otago has been stopped due to low patronage, one of the company's managers says.
Mainland Air College manager John Penno confirmed yesterday no new bookings for the service were being taken.
However, all present bookings for the thrice-weekly service would be honoured and Mainland Air would still do charter flights.
He understood the changes were effective immediately.
The patronage on the flights to and from Alexandra and Queenstown was not high enough to continue demand, with only one or two passengers on board for some flights, Mr Penno told the Otago Daily Times.
Flights to Queenstown, which stopped at Alexandra when required, started in November last year with flights on Monday, Tuesday and Friday.
A one-way flight from Dunedin to Queenstown took about one hour and cost $160.
In January, the airline's Piper Chieftain aircraft, which could carry eight passengers and two crew, had had an average passenger loading of about 30% to 40%, Mainland Air's business manager at the time Daniel McMillan said.
In June, Mainland Air stopped its service to Invercargill after just six weeks because a lack of patronage and the high cost of fuel had made the service unprofitable.
At the time, Mr McMillan said the company would continue with its service to Queenstown, though he declined to say what was the average number of passengers.
The company was happy with its loadings into Central Otago and wanted to see how the service would perform during winter, he said.
Mr Penno said he would not rule out a return to the service, but it was stopped in the meantime.
"It was well worth giving it a hit and we made a really good effort."
Mainland Air operations manager Phil Kean last night referred all queries to an email address, that of the company's Chicago-based chief executive Chris Kelliher.
Supporter Central Otago mayor Malcolm Macpherson said the cancellation of the service was disappointing as it had a lot of potential and people had been enthusiastic about it.
He was not sure why the service had not built up patronage, but suspected fuel prices and that fact the service was not daily, making it difficult for people to fit in to the schedule, may have been factors.
By the Central Otago District Council's calculations, the cost of the flight was not unreasonable.
They had put "a bit" of money into the Alexandra Airport when the service was first mooted 12 months ago, as Mainland Air's proposal had interested other companies in using the airport as well, so it was a disappointment it had not come to a reliable scheduled service, Dr Macpherson said.
