In November 2013, Grabaseat did a promotion where everyday the website had a selection of $9 fares around the country. Great news for a plane buff like myself. I booked quite a few, but unfortunately due to work and personal commitments, I was only able to fly a handful.
The $9 flights to/from Whakatane appeared early one Sunday and I was able grab a return WHK-AKL-WHK with around a 5 hour transit. The day after I managed to grab AKL-NPL-AKL flights to fit snugly between the WHK flights. More on that later.
I was booked on the first outbound flight from Whakatane on a Saturday morning. It meant a early start for me while I made the 45min trip from home to Whakatane Airport.
I arrived just slightly before final check in time. I was amazed at how quirky and interesting the Whakatane Airport terminal was. It was designed by architect Roger Walker and was finished in 1974.
Found This Online:
The terminal building was intended to put Whakatane on the map while avoiding the repetitive, boxy design characteristic of many airport terminals. It is excitingly different yet has good flow patterns and clean separation of internal functions. The materials used keep the human element dominant so that pasengers and baggage are not treated in a too similar manner.
As with most small regional airports, I expected check in to be speedy. I was soooooo wrong!! It took nearly 25minutes to get my Boarding Pass. Shocking! 25minutes of standing at the back of a large queue. By the time I received my boarding pass, the boarding call was made, the flight already being 5minutes late.
NZ2542 to Auckland, Seat 5A
Boarding was completed rather quick. We had around 14 pax on board. We started up and then taxied out to the runway. As with pretty much all regional airports in New Zealand, and taxi down the runway to the other end is required. We took off the the Northeast and started our climb to our cruising altitude of 17.000ft. It was a sunny yet slightly gusty morning in the Eastern Bay of Plenty. We flew just offshore, meaning I had great views of Matata and Pukehina Beach. It started to cloud over disappointingly over Tauranga, the great views I would have got, were obscured.
Patchy Views on route
I got patchy views through the cloud of Te Aroha and the Waikato Dairy Country. A bank to the right and we started our descent into Auckland over the firth of Thames. The FO came on the radio to announce we were going to be circling Auckland Airport for around 5 minutes due to a ATC issue.
Circling Auckland Airport
After about 5 minutes the FO came on the radio to announce the Auckland Airport was closed due to a Aircraft breaking down on the runway. We were going to head out to Waiheke and stay in a holding pattern for about 15-20mins while the Aircraft was towed off the runway.
Circling overhead Waiheke Island
After what felt like an age (25mins according to the watch), the FO came back on the PA to announce that we were off to Hamilton Airport, from there we would be shuttled back to Auckland. We started to make our way to Hamilton, but then the FO announced the Auckland was reopen and we were turning around and heading back!
Descending into Auckland finally!
We landed in behind a Airbus A320 and then taxied over to the regional gates. On taxi I saw a ATR 72 of Mount Cook Airlines being towed over to the regional gates. The front right hand emergency exit window was missing and I could see the faces of Passengers inside.
We shut down and then started deplaning, I made a quick brisk walk inside to checkin for my flight to New Plymouth, which I was going to be still able to make despite the delays.
Whakatane to Auckland
Aircraft: Beechcraft 1900D
Rego: ZK-EAN
Seat: 5A
Flight Time 83minutes
Rego: ZK-EAN
Seat: 5A
Flight Time 83minutes
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