Jet link to vineyards on the runway

A Sounds Air link to vineyards in Hawke's Bay is on the cards.

A new air service linking the wine regions of Hawke's Bay and Marlborough is in its final planning stages, Sounds Air managing director Andrew Crawford has said.

Mr Crawford said he expected to be able to make a full announcement about the service "within the week".

Sounds Air announced it had begun looking into creating a twice-weekly direct air link between Hawke's Bay and Marlborough back in May with one of its aircraft, a nine-seater Pilatus PC12, touching down at Hawke's Bay Airport.

Mr Crawford said the wine industry was a key focus of the service which was predominantly seen as a business route rather than direct tourism route.

He said it was often "a pain" for people wanting to travel between Napier and Blenheim for business. The initial plans were for a twice weekly service with two return flights - one in the morning and one in the evening.

On the direct route the flight time would be just 45 minutes. Flights from Napier, through Wellington, then on to Blenheim could take up to three hours.

Mr Crawford estimated at that time that fares each way were likely to be around $250.

Meanwhile, Hawke's Bay is still vying for a place on Jetstar's list of destinations. The region's bid is featuring in social media video clips based on people's ideas of places to see and things to do in Hawke's Bay.

The clips are being recorded at a range of settings including from 7.30am today at Napier's Adoro cafe.

Jetstar communications manager Phil Boeyen said anyone wanting to know where the crew had been would have to wait to see it on the social media.

The airline announced in June that Hawke's Bay Airport is among seven airports being considered as possible destinations for new regional services set to start in December.