After months of isolation due to a fragile roading network, East Coast communities now have an extra form of transport to keep them connected.
The first-ever regional flight service connecting Napier, Wairoa, Gisborne, and Tauranga has taken to the skies this week.
The Piper Aztec might not provide an elegant exit but for passengers it's all about convenience.
The little plane now has a big job, helping keep vulnerable East Coast communities connected.
The new Sunair service provides daily return flights to Napier, Wairoa, Gisborne, and Tauranga, a first of its kind.
Alison Miranda was flying Napier to Gisborne for work today and said the flight will save her hours of travel.
"Beats us driving for six hours for a few meetings up in Gisborne. Even personally if you need to pop up at the last minute, just the roads are obviously closed a lot at the moment due to weather events, so flying's a good option.
"The service will help everyone transport goods and services, just help businesses work with each other, family visiting family friends, help us connect. It's quite an isolated community up north," Miranda said.
The aircraft is a cozy 6-seater that cuts the Napier to Gisborne travel time down to 30 minutes and if you're lucky enough you can even ride as co-pilot.
It's a stripped-back flight experience with the pilot checking in every customer and even handling the baggage.
Sunair pilot Paul Corrin said he had been flying for more than 40 years and loved flying the East Coast.
"Every seat is a window seat, and the views are spectacular, particularly on this route there's a lot to see going up the coast and over from Wairoa to Gisborne and over the ranges. It's a very comfy flight, it's got a very good heater," Corrin said.
Hastings Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst said the service will help the cyclone recovery efforts.
"There are many people that travel between Napier, Wairoa, Gisborne, and back for business, for schooling, for medical reasons, and we know that when Air New Zealand provided us temporary services for four months post-cyclone it was used a great deal so we are absolutely thrilled that we have Sunair providing us this service. We need all the help we can get."
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