When Sounds Air axes its route connecting Wānaka and Christchurch on Sunday, 80-year-old Ralph Fegan will finish his part-time work as one of the ground crew for the company.
Mr Fegan was working at Wānaka Airport when he called Sounds Air managing director Andrew Crawford in 2020 to convince him there was an opportunity for the small carrier there.
Now, as the airline leaves the airport for the last time, citing excessive taxes and licensing costs, Mr Fegan was philosophical.
"It has been an excellent service for Wānaka and definitely the right-sized aircraft," he said.
"If you have a bigger aircraft, you have two engines, and two pilots and you have bigger overheads straight away."
Mr Fegan said he did not need the work at his age, but said it would be a huge loss for those needing flights for medical procedures and appointments in Christchurch, a service the flight was often used for.
"It has coped very admirably and where I see it is the people are always those going for operations and medical procedures: new hips, knees and all sorts of stuff."
Mr Crawford said the company felt it had been forced to drop the route after five years of fighting for a solution.
Pulling flights from Wānaka, and Blenheim, was "tragic" for regional New Zealand.
"The routes are predominantly healthcare and business and it has just ripped it to pieces.
"I have had a lot of feedback since the announcement and they are all saying, ‘Don't do it’, ‘Why are you going?’."
Mr Crawford said proposed levies to help regional flights was too little too late for the Wānaka route, and the flights would not be coming back through his airline.
Queenstown Airport chief operating officer Todd Grace said it was a shame to see the service go, but he hoped in time it would be replaced.
"We are very sad to see the end of this popular service.
"We have enjoyed working with Sounds Air and its flights between Wānaka and Christchurch were well supported.
"The response from the Upper Clutha community shows this route was highly valued by many residents and visitors."
Since its first flight out of Wānaka on November 2, 2020, Sounds Air has conducted 15 flights a week to the Garden City, amounting to around 4000 flights.
Customers from Wānaka will now have to drive to Queenstown to catch a flight to Christchurch.
Mr Crawford said passenger numbers were always high. It was just the cost of fees and taxes they could no longer afford.
The Civil Aviation Authority had introduced a 145% increase on passenger levies.
Those levies meant flights would cost an extra $305,000 a year and push the price of tickets between the two centres from $350 to at least $500, he said.
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