At the time of the rebranding Capital Air Services were using four Cessna 402 aircraft.
Passengers flights to and from Blenheim were reduced with a largely-courier only service of one return flight being offered six days week, and likewise the Wellington-Nelson run was reduced to one return service five days a week.
Faced with higher costs, dropping patronage, and the loss of a key Databank contract, James Air slashed its Wellington flights on 1 April 1981 with the airline deciding to concentrate on its Nelson-Palmerston North service.
In August that year, however, with Air New Zealand cutting its early-morning flight between Blenheim and Wellington James Air applied to the Air Services Licensing Authority for permission to run at least three flights a week between Wellington and Blenheim and a minimum of the same number of flights between Blenheim and Palmerston North, through Nelson.
The James Air name disappeared from Cook Strait on 1 August 1983 when the airline was renamed Avcorp Commuter reflecting its ownership by the Aviation Corporation Ltd.[3]