Another Colour Scheme Disappearing... Great Barrier Airlines

One of the features of Auckland skies over the last 12 or so years have been the birds of Great Barrier, but sadly they are disappearing.

Like Frontier Airlines from the USA that feature local wildlife on the tails of the aeroplanes Great Barrier Airlines have been doing the same so back into the late 1990s. However the scheme has not been seen on "new" aircraft such as the Trislanders and older ones are slowly being repainted. Partenavia P68 ZK-PLA to be repainted and I finally got a decent photo of it at Auckland last month, just, it was so quiet taxiing I almost missed it. It was suggested to me at North Shore some months ago that cost and simplicity are the big factors for the more simplified scheme.

Before and after... Partenavia P68 ZK-PLA at Auckland on 9 October 1999 (above) and on 25 May 2010. Photos : S Lowe

The following is a list of the Great Barrier fleet that carried the birds and how they have been labelled...

CNS...Piper Cherokee 6......Stitchbird
CRA...BN Islander.............Kaka
ENZ...Piper Cherokee 6......Tomtit
FQK...DHC Twin Otter.......Kingfisher
FVD...BN Islander NZ........Pigeon
NAD...GAF Nomad............Kaka
NSN...Piper Navajo............Bellbird
PLA...Partenavia................Tui
REA...BN Islander.............Kotare
WNZ..BN Islander..............Kingfisher

Meanwhile Islander ZK-FVD is tail-less at North Shore at present... Will it's bird be the next to fly away???