Not necessarily enough punters to do AKL, at least 5 a day from the forestry industry do Whakas to AKL then WGN so you won't get them. They'll go out of Tauranga or Rotorua on Air NZ.
Would like to see someone succeed where AirNZ have given up but it needs to be with something like a TBM700 or a KingAir. And the locals need to support it. Big financial commitment.