Air Chathams CEO Craig Emery and Duane Emery, chief operating officer, in the cockpit of an Air Chathams Convair 580 aircraft. Photo / Supplied
Covid-19 is behind a surprising windfall on the Chatham Islands, fast becoming the go-to destination as Kiwis with lockdown fever look for somewhere new to visit.
Tourism has been booming on the main Chatham Island, normally dead during the winter and shoulder periods. But Kiwis, knowing they won't be travelling overseas anytime soon, are booking trips to the remote archipelago in all seasons.
Tourist operators on the island reported a stream of inquiries and bookings when the country came out of lockdown in June. And with Auckland now out of level 3, those inquiries have surged again.
The increased visitor numbers have been an unexpected bonus for Air Chathams which, like all airlines, took a hit from Covid. The airline, which has a base in Auckland, took over several of the domestic routes abandoned by Air New Zealand in 2015 but was unable to fly them during lockdown.
That came on the heels of the live food markets closing in China in January, a move that brought the lucrative live crayfish export to an abrupt halt. It was Air Chathams that transported the island's seafood - crays, kina, paua, hapuka and blue cod - to Wellington and Auckland to connect with international flights to meet the Asian market.
The airline's chief operating officer Duane Emeny said the boost in visitor numbers had helped during those tough months after the export market disappeared. In addition, doing freight runs as an essential service during lockdown had helped keep the airline in the game, he said.
The closure of China's markets couldn't have come at a worse time for the Chathams' fishing industry, which represents 75 per cent of the island's economy.
Chinese New Year, which fell on January 25 this year, is normally boom time with the Asian market snapping up the lucky-red lobster catch. Around 390 tonnes of live crayfish alone are exported every year, with local processing factories earning a "beach price" of between $65 and $85 a kilo, bringing in between $25.3 million and $33.1m. Another 600 tonnes of wetfish - blue cod and hapuka - is fetching $25 a kilo, earning $15m for the island.
"That cost us a horrific amount in February when it stopped and the island was hurt quite badly as well," Emeny said. "So it's good to see a new market (tourism) opening up. It is one of the nice little surprises you get among the whole lot of not-so-nice ones."
Seafood New Zealand data shows that the country's exports were well down in the first half of 2020. Last year New Zealand exported 2650 tonnes of rock lobster, also known as crayfish, worth $300 million. By comparison, just 874 tonnes of lobster worth $89m were exported, down 32 per cent on volume and 41 per cent in value.
Last year 597 tonnes of paua worth $34.7m were exported but in the first half of this year, just 69 tonnes, worth $4.4m, were exported.
Moana New Zealand, which runs the Aotearoa Fisheries factory at Waitangi on Chatham Island, moved quickly to come up with a plan when exports stopped.
The company's communications manager, Michelle Cherrington, said existing catches were frozen and sold within New Zealand, but at considerably less than the lucrative live market. Some frozen crayfish tails were sold to the US market.
And they came up with Plan B, launching a Grab One offer of frozen blue cod, cray tail and pots of minced paua to the North Island, an offer that quickly sold out.
"People were craving seafood [during lockdown]," Cherrington said.
Private fisheries like the Chatham Island Food Co pushed online sales of fish to New Zealanders to help fill the export gap.
It was freighting that seafood round the country that proved a lifeline for Air Chathams. Ruled as an essential service, the airline put on charter flights to help South Island fishing companies, frustrated by the lack of connecting domestic flights, to meet international freight flights leaving from Auckland.
Emeny said the Government's aviation support package helped keep the airline operational. It meant Air Chathams' Convairs were ready to go within 24 hours of receiving the first call to collect seafood.
"We were able to head down to Manapouri to pick up some crayfish."
Emeny, a pilot, was so impressed with the way the Ministry of Transport handled aviation details during the lockdown that he and his father Craig, the company's CEO, made a point of personally meeting some of the officials later in Wellington.
One of the officials revealed that, pre Covid, he had been working on legislation for electric vehicles. "He had absolutely no idea about aviation. These guys had to learn it all overnight and they did a bloody good job, I must say," Emeny said.
Although the seafood export market is recovering, it appears tourism will be an added bonus for the Chathams. Located in the Pacific Ocean about 800km east of the South Island - next stop, Chile – locals laugh that many Kiwis aren't even sure where it is.
But now they're making it their business to find out. The main accommodation on the island, Hotel Chatham, is already booked for summer and next winter, with bookings stretching into spring 2021 and summer 2022.
In October Air Chathams will add its 68-seater ATR-72 500 aircraft to its passenger fleet of ageing Convairs to accommodate increased numbers. The aircraft, bought from Air New Zealand last year, has been used as a charter aircraft for wealthy Americans, a sector that's since disappeared.
The Government announced a $36m project to upgrade and extend the tiny Tuuta Airport last month, a move that means Air Chathams can eventually introduce Boeing 737s, cutting travel time and increasing freight and passenger capacities.
The Chathams' mayor, Monique Croon, said visitor numbers to the island were steadily increasing.
"It's the big OE trip without going overseas. You don't need a passport."
Auckland going back into level 3 had an immediate impact, she said, but since the region had dropped back to level 2, bookings had been rolling in.
"It shows how important that Auckland market is for us."
Croon's family arrived from Auckland in the mid 70s with a plan to live there for a year. They never left. Her father was lucky enough to secure one of the early fishing quotas and used the proceeds to establish accommodation on the island.
Croon's sister Toni now runs the family's tourism business with her brother-in-law Floyd Prendeville, based at Hotel Chatham on the foreshore at Waitangi, the island's main settlement.
Francesca Bonventre, marketing and booking manager for the Hotel Chatham group which runs three-quarters of the accommodation on the island, said Covid had been a game-changer. The amount of inquiries from travel agents after lockdown had been "unbelievable".
Bonventre is having to turn down bookings but thinks some of the island's 650 residents, used to relying on fishing and farming, will start to convert existing buildings into accommodation and develop activities for tourists.
She's an example, expanding her Chatham Islands freeze-dried honey business into a place where tourists can visit to watch the bees and learn about the endemic plants.
And her partner, Kaai Silbery, who used to be the sous chef at Auckland's Soul Bar, has worked hard to develop menus at Hotel Chatham using fresh local produce and seafood, and spreading the word to other New Zealand chefs.
"It [Covid] has finally put us on the map. We are expecting a boom in tourism."
The airline sold its last slots at Heathrow in 2020.