Water and fudge

At 19.10 we started our descent. The crew came around to offer passengers boiled sweets. This actually meant that we’d received a three course service, on such a short flight; can many carriers say that they offer that??

At 19.15 the crew started to prepare the cabin for landing and the seat belt sign came on. As we made our way into Palmerston North we took a series of rather sharp turns and steep banking. It was actually slightly unnerving to be honest, but I suppose that it is normal for a small agile aircraft such as this.

We landed at 19.24, which was about 6 minutes early. The landing itself was ok, perhaps a little bumpy, but not too bad. I was a bit surprised to see that PMR airport actually had a reasonably large terminal building which looked quite modern. Although, saying that, it was still probably the smallest commercial airport that I’ve ever visited.

We pulled up outside the terminal building and then were invited to disembark. As I did, I was able to get a shot of the tail again.


Disembarking

We walked across the tarmac and into the terminal building and that concluded my first flight on a turbo-prop.

Verdict

A really fun flight for my first trip on Air New Zealand. I really liked the self-check-in at Auckland. As you might expect, the design was very quirky, while the staff were very friendly and helpful. I found the lack of security a little unnerving and a bit weird, but then the whole flight was a bit of an experience.

The flight itself was good, although if you were planning to sleep on board, you might struggle a bit, since it is quite loud when cruising. The aircraft was much bigger inside than I expected and was pretty comfortable. The crew were very friendly and it was definitely a bonus to get something quick to drink, even on such a short flight.

Overall, a very enjoyable experience that really bought a smile to my face.