Part 1 of the Air Nelson story, The Nelson-Wellington Commuter Airline can be found here...
http://3rdlevelnz.blogspot.co.nz/2017/07/air-nelson-part-1-nelson-wellington.html
In the just over two years from the 31st of October 1988. to the end of 1990 Air New Zealand retired its Fokker Friendship fleet and this led Air Nelson experiencing meteoric growth.
With the September 1988 announcement made that Air Nelson would take over Air New Zealand's Friendship services to Hokitika and Westport, Air Nelson announced they would acquire a 19-seat Fairchild Metroliner III and the lease of Pacifica Air's Swearingen Metroliner II.
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| An extending network, Air Nelson's timetable effective 31 October 1988 with flights to Timaru, Hokitika and Westport |
Meanwhile, Air New Zealand’s move to relinquish some of its
provincial services in favour of Air Nelson and Eagle Air was initially met
with was met with shock and initially some angst. The affected communities soon saw, however, that
there was the potential to get a better service. In Hokitika and Westport's case Air New Zealand operated two Friendship services through both the West Coast towns with the two flights departing within 75 minutes of each other meaning it was impossible for travellers to do a day's business on the Coast or in Wellington or Christchurch.
It was announced Air Nelson's new Hokitika service would operate thrice daily Christchurch to Hokitika flights on weekdays flights with one Saturday and two Sunday flights. Westport was was to receive an early morning positioning flight from Nelson and then three
flights to Wellington, one via Nelson, and two flights into Westport on weekdays. On the weekends
there were to be one flight each day to Wellington with a Sunday flight to and
from Nelson with onward connections. Air Nelson also announced that Air Nelson would operate flights from
Nelson to both Christchurch and Wellington.
Speaking
to Hokitika and Greymouth local body leaders Air New Zealand’s southern regional manager, Mr Paul Bowe
said, “With three flights a day in future there will be an extra 15 seats in
and out of Hokitika each day. It really is a positive move and not one of
sadness. You are, in fact, getting more service and more seat availability. We
see this not as a pulling out of the service, but a changing of the service to
give more frequency with better connections.”
In late September 1988 a further announcement was made that Timaru would lose its Air New Zealand Friendship weekday midday Wellington flight in favour of an Air Nelson Metroliner return flight operated from Christchurch.
While all these announcements were occurring Air Nelson itself moved rapidly to ensure the new aircraft would be ready as well as the additional pilots,
engineering and administrative staff needed to take over the new services on the 31st of October 1988.
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| The future shape of Air Nelson... |
In the event the lead in time proved to be too short. The Pacifica Air Metroliner was found to be unsuitable and delays were experienced in readying the Metroliner III for service in New Zealand.
Instead of a Metroliner flying Air Nelson's first Hokitika and Timaru services on the
31st of October 1988 it was Associated Air’s Cessna 402
ZK-DSB. An Air Nelson Piper Chieftain flew the first Westport services. During November 1988 Hokitika saw a variety of aircraft types operating its Air Nelson services; Cessna 310, 402 and 421 Golden Eagle, Fokker Friendship, GAF Nomad Piper Navajo and Chieftain aircraft were all used to maintain the service. In Timaru a Canterbury Aero Club Piper Archer was also used on one occasion! Among the many aircraft that serviced the West Coast and Timaru during this time was Piper Navajo ZK-JGA that had been previously purchased by Air Nelson but was on lease to Coast Air.
Air Nelson’s first $3 million Fairchild
Metroliner III, ZK-NSW, was first seen at Hokitika on the 20th of November when
it did a route proving flights to Christchurch, Hokitika and Timaru. The first
Metroliner services were operated the following day. Air Nelson managing
director, Mr Robert Inglis, who accompanied the first flight across the Alps,
said the delay in commissioning the plane was caused by the extra certification
required by the Ministry of Transport. "The time scale was put in place
because of other pressures on Air New Zealand. They asked us to try and meet
that time and we have done the very best that we could and remain grateful that
the West Coast people have been patient and understanding of our
situation." The arrival of the Metroliner was greeted with much excitement in Hokitika and over the summer most flights were carrying 16-17 passengers.
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| Air Nelson's first Fairchild Metroliner ZK-NSW at Timaru on 22 November 1990 |
Meanwhile, the Westport service was not
gaining the level of support received in Hokitika. While awaiting the arrival of a second Metroliner Piper Chieftains was
flying a late morning flight to Westport with an Air New Zealand Friendship
operating in the late afternoon/ evening.
On
the 1st of April 1989 Air Nelson brought their second Metroliner, ZK-NSV, into
service. At this time Air Nelson introduced two weekday Metroliner services
from Westport to Wellington, one operating via Nelson and the other direct. On
Saturdays a Piper Navajo or Chieftain operated a single service into Westport
from Nelson while on Sunday a Metroliner service was operated direct from
Wellington. Air Nelson also introduced a Sunday afternoon Christchurch-Timaru return
service.
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| The second Fairchild Metroliner III, ZK-NSV at Hokitika on 31 May 1989 |
The 1st of April also the introduction of a Piper Chieftain service between Blenheim and Wellington. Four weekday flights were operated to Wellington with three return flights along with one Sunday service. A weekday Chieftain service was also inaugurated between Wellington and Palmerston North. Sometime about this time Air Nelson acquired a lease of Piper Chieftain ZK-FQW that had flown for Pacifica Air.
Further
expansion began on the 3rd of July 1989 when Air Nelson extended its regional
network south from Christchurch to Oamaru using a 10-seat Piper PA31 Chieftain.
In announcing the new service Air Nelson’s managing director Robert Inglis said
“the new schedule is designed to complement the Air New Zealand service.” At
this time Oamaru was serviced by a daily morning Oamaru-Timaru-Wellington
service with a return flight in the evening. The Air Nelson service offered two
return services on weekdays with departures from Christchurch for Oamaru at
8.40am and 3.10pm and return flights from Oamaru departing at 9.45am and
4.15pm.
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| An expanding network - The Press, 8 July 1989 |
By mid-July 1989 the Westport service was still not performing well and Air Nelson trimmed the Tuesday,
Wednesday and Thursday morning flights from the schedule. By the end of the
year all the morning services to Westport were cut and it was served by one
daily flight to Wellington.
The 1st of November 1989 saw further changes. Timaru was included as a stop on the morning southbound flight to Oamaru and in the afternoon the northbound flight from Oamaru. This enabled business travellers to spend a whole day in Timaru. On the West Coast the company started overnighting a Metroliner at Hokitika to
allow an early morning service from Hokitika with an evening return. By
December 1989 the number of passengers flying from Christchurch to Hokitika had
almost doubled since Air Nelson took over the route from Air New Zealand on the
previous year.
A
third Metroliner, ZK-NSX, was added to the fleet in February 1990 coinciding
with the announcement that Air Nelson would take over Air New Zealand’s
services to Whanganui on the 9th of April 1990. The new Air Nelson services
meant that passengers to and from Auckland would fly direct. Initially two
Auckland weekday flights were scheduled each day with three flights to
Wellington.
At
the same time it was also announced that Air Nelson would replace Air New
Zealand services on the Nelson-Auckland route from the 9th of April 1991. Air New Zealand's service was one direct flight to Auckland in the morning and a return flight via
Palmerston North in the evening. The Air Nelson service was to see early morning and early evening return services to suit business travellers. With
all this expansion more Metroliners were needed and ZK-NSU and ZK-NSY were
added to the fleet in April 1990 with ZK-NSZ following in May 1990. These three aircraft had been operated for Trans World Express in the United States by Pocono Airlines. Both NSZ and NSU operated for a time in Trans World Express colours.
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| Displaying Trans World Express colours, Fairchild Metroliner ZK-NSU, with Air Nelson titles, at Hokitika on 14 May 1990. |
Further
expansion was announced in March 1990, even before the new Nelson-Auckland and
Wanganui services had begun. Air New Zealand announced that it would withdraw
from Oamaru and Timaru with Air Nelson taking over from the 23rd of
April 1990. Oamaru was the big loser going from a pressurised 48-seat
Friendship to an unpressurised 9 seat Piper Chieftain. The Oamaru schedule saw three
weekday flights connecting to either Air New Zealand services at Christchurch
or Air Nelson services to Wellington at Timaru.
Timaru was to receive two direct weekday flights from Timaru to
Wellington with one flight on Saturdays and Sunday. The existing Christchurch
service was retained and an additional Chieftain service was provided from
Christchurch to Timaru for business people in the morning.
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| On the Oamaru service, Air Nelson's Piper PA31 Navajo ZK-JGA at Oamaru on 17 October 1990 |
Expansion
of services continued with Blenheim receiving Metroliner services between
Wellington and Blenheim and a new weekday Blenheim-Christchurch service from
the 23rd of July 1990.
The
West Coast received additional flights from the 6th of August 1990 with a
fourth weekday service between Christchurch and Hokitika and the introduction
of a six day a week Hokitika-Westport service connecting Westport to
Christchurch via Hokitika and Hokitika to Wellington via Westport. Wanganui
also received a third flight to Auckland and while the Wellington service was
reduced to two flights.
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| The Air Nelson around the rocks service saw two Metroliners at the same time... The flight would arrive from Westport and tranship to the other Metro for Christchurch. The Metroliner from Westport would carry on to Christchurch 95 minutes after arriving. It was a schedule doomed to fail. Metroliners ZK-NSU and NSY at Hokitika on 8 August 1990 |
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| West Coast Times, 3 September 1990 |
However, the big news in August 1990 was Air New Zealand's decision to withdraw its entire
Fokker Friendship fleet. Air Nelson had already evaluated suitable replacement
aircraft including the Saab 340 (34 seats), the Embraer Brasilia and the
British Aerospace Jetstream 41 but it was the 34-seat Saab 340 which was the
airline’s choice. Air Nelson announced it was leasing, and perhaps later
purchasing, four 34-seat Saab 340 aircraft and expanding its Metroliner fleet
from six to nine. Commenting on the expansion Robert Inglis said travel habits had changed over the years
and "communities are requesting frequency service, clearly difficult to
achieve with Friendships. There had been good acceptance of Air Nelson's
high-frequency Metroliner schedule, and the company had been contemplating
adding extra aircraft to its fleet for some time. So being a growing company
and fast on our feet, we will be very quickly in the marketplace to fill any
void left by Air New Zealand. We're looking at the routes that they're pulling
off and saying to ourselves, 'would some of these suit our operation?' Yes,
we'll certainly take up the challenge and believe that with a great number of
Air New Zealand's routes we'll be able to gear our operations to give some of
the services required."
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While Air Nelson was busy expanding Air Nelson was continuing to serve Motueka with Piper Aztecs and Piper Navajos.
Nelson Evening Mail, September 1990 |
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| All painted up in Air Nelson colours, Piper PA23 Aztec ZK-DIO at Foxpine on 11 May 1990... |
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| ...and Piper PA23 Aztec ZK-PIX at Motueka on 15 August 1990 |
Saabs were earmarked for the Nelson-Wellington, New Plymouth-Auckland, New
Plymouth-Wellington and Rotorua-Wellington routes while Metroliners would be used
on the Tauranga-Wellington and Gisborne-Wellington routes and Blenheim-Wellington receiving both Saab and Metroliner flights.
Initial outrage and disappointment was expressed by local leaders in all these regions. An example was Nelson’s mayor, Mr Peter Malone, who wasn’t
happy with the decision to retire the Friendships saying Nelson city has been
disadvantaged yet again as a provincial centre by the "new commercial
environment created by Rogernomics which puts dollars before people and
services" These fears were short-lived as the airline set about
establishing the new routes and in the years following expanding the provincial
air services.
Within
days Air Nelson confirmed that it had leased Saab 340As from Crossair
in Switzerland and use them for a few months before deciding whether it would
go ahead with its preferred option to buy new Saab 340B aircraft. It was
reported that if Air Nelson went ahead and bought four Saabs, the whole
expansion programme, including Metroliners, would amount to $80 million.
Air
Nelson replaced Air New Zealand’s Friendship service to Tauranga on the 17th of September
1990. Replacing the two Friendship flights to Wellington, one direct and one via Rotorua, were three weekday Metroliner flights operated
in the morning, mid-day and evening along with two flights a day on weekends. An
aircraft and six pilots were based at Tauranga. The Bay of Plenty Times
reported that “the first flight to Wellington touched down at 8.30am, about 20
minutes faster than the former Friendship service which ended yesterday. Air
Nelson commercial manager Noel Gillespie said it was a “really good start, with
almost full bookings on all flights today.””
On
the same day Air Nelson replaced the Air New Zealand’s Wellington-Gisborne
service. By this stage Gisborne had one direct Friendship flight to Wellington with two Eagle Air Bandeirante flights connecting to Air New Zealand at Napier. Air Nelson's new service saw three weekday Metroliner flights operated in the morning, mid-day and evening
and two flights a day on weekends.
At this time more Metroliners were arriving in the country. ZK-NSQ and ZK-NSS came from British operator Air Metro and they were registered with Air Nelson in September 1990 along with another Metroliner, ZK-NST. Two brand new Metroliners, ZK-NSI and ZK-NSJ were registered to Air Nelson in November and December 1990 respectively.
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| Fairchild Metroliner III ZK-NSS in Air Metro colours at Hokitika on 9 September 1990 |
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| Fairchild Metroliner III ZK-NSQ in Air Metro colours taxis in at Hokitika on 13 November 1990 |
The first of Air Nelson’s Saab SF340As, ZK-FXB, arrived into Nelson from Crossair on the 27th of September 1990. In the weeks following two more Saabs arrived from Switzerland, ZK-FXA and ZK-FXD, and one arrived from Australia, ZK-FXC
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| On delivery from Crossair, the first Saab 340A, HB-AHQ, at Nelson on 28 September 1990. It became ZK-FXB. |
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| The Australian Saab 340, VH-OLH at Nelson on 24 October 1990. It became ZK-FXC. |
Further
expansion was announced in October with Air Nelson announcing it would operate a
Wellington-Taupo service from the 5th of November 1990. This service
also included a Taupo-Tauranga extension Taupo giving connections to and from
Auckland as well as allowing extra capacity between Tauranga and Wellington via
Taupo.
Air
Nelson replaced Air New Zealand’s Rotorua-Wellington service on the 5th of November
1990. Saabs were initially designated for this route but a dispute over landing
charges, the fact that Mount Cook and Ansett also operated on the route and the
success of the Tauranga service saw the Saab redeployed to Tauranga while
Rotorua received a Metroliner service. Air New Zealand’s two weekday Friendships
flights a day were replaced with three Metroliner flights. As it happened the
initial services were flown by chartered Friendships as Air Nelson struggled to
get Metroliners on line.
Air
Nelson officially took over Air New Zealand’s Nelson and Blenheim services on
the 5th of November 1990, though delays in the delivery of the Saabs
lead to Air Nelson chartering two Friendships from Air New Zealand to fly their routes for another week and the first Air Nelson Saab flights were flown from Nelson to Wellington and Wellington to Blenheim on the 12th of November 1990.
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NZ Herald, 15 November 1990 |
Tauranga received a Saab service from the 19th of November 1990 and one of these flights also operated through Taupo.
The
final stage of the Air Nelson’s Friendship retirement expansion was the addition of New Plymouth to its
network. New Plymouth-Wellington flights began on the 26th of November with the New Plymouth-Auckland services commencing on the 11th of December 1990. Two Saabs were based at New Plymouth
with Air Nelson's new service offering four weekday flights to Wellington, replacing Air New Zealand’s
three Friendship flights, and five weekday flight to Auckland, replacing Air New
Zealand’s four Friendship flights.
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| All painted up in Air Nelson colours... Saab 340 ZK-FXB at Nelson on 14 November 1990 |
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| A much extended network... Air Nelson timetable effective 5 November 1990 |
So ended two years of meteoric growth in the history of Air Nelson. It was a growth that revolutionised provincial air services and that was to set the foundation for further growth in the years following.
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| Santa gives Air Nelson a hand after a busy Christmas night - ZK-NSI... the early morning flight out of Hokitika on Christmas Day after 1990 after two meteoric years of growth for Air Nelson. Robert and Nicki must have thought all their Christmases had come at once. |
