Before Geyserland Airways

By Bruce Gavin

Aero Commander 500 ZK-CWP arrived in Auckland on 6 April 1968. Within about a month the aircraft was introduced into the Rotorua Aero Club’s twice-daily the non-scheduled Rotorua, Matamata, Auckland air service. Up until the introduction of the Aero Commander this service had been flown under the banner of Rotorua Aerial Charter, which was the operating title of the Rotorua Aero Club’s substantial commercial air charter division. The Aero Commander supplemented, and soon replaced veteran de Havilland DH.89B Dominie ZK-AKU which had begun the non-scheduled service on 13 November 1967. The introduction of the Aero Commander heralded a name change for the non-scheduled service to Geyserland Airways and the aircraft carried the title Geyserland Airways in small script on the vertical fin/rudder. The Aero Commander was then operated by the aero club for over a year until the aircraft and air services licence was taken over by Geyserland Airways Ltd.