25 years of Mount Cook Airlines Flights to Alexandra

UPDATED JANUARY 2026

 

Mount Cook and Southern Lakes Tourist Company started scheduled air services from Christchurch to Mount Cook and Cromwell on the 1st of November 1961 with Douglas DC-3 ZK-BKD flying the first service. At this stage Queenstown was not certified for DC-3 operations and passengers were bussed from Cromwell to Queenstown. 

From November 1963 the airline started rebranding itself as Mount Cook Airlines. On the 1st of November 1963 the service to Cromwell was extended to Dunedin on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and from the 3rd of November 1963 to Invercargill three days a week. The following year Queenstown aerodrome was opened with the first scheduled flight into Queenstown being operated by DC-3 ZK-BKD on the 4th of February 1964. From this point the Queenstown to Dunedin service stopped at Cromwell only on demand. 

 

With the closure of SPANZ on the 28th of February 1966 Mount Cook Airlines added Alexandra as a stop on its Queenstown to Dunedin service. The first flight was flown on the 2nd of March 1966. With the addition of Alexandra the service was increased to four times a week with the service operated on Mondays, Wednesdays Fridays and Sundays. Mount Cook Airlines’ new service enabled Alexandra passengers to connect to and from NAC at Dunedin or passengers could fly all the way to or from Christchurch on Mount Cook Airlines via Queenstown and Mount Cook.

Mount Cook Airline Timetable effective 1 April 1966-20 December 1966

Mount Cook Airlines' Douglas DC-3 ZK-BKD at Alexandra

 

 

First Day Covers for the first Mount Cook Airlines' flights between Dunedin and Alexandra

 

 

In the late 1960s Mount Cook Airlines introduced two turbo prop aircraft to its fleet, a Hawker Siddeley 748 in 1968 and the following year a de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter. The 18-seatTwin Otter, ZK-CJZ (c/n 259), was used for scenic flights between Queenstown and Milford Sound as well as on the scheduled Queenstown to Te Anau and Queenstown-Alexandra-Dunedin routes. Its first flight on the Queenstown-Alexandra-Dunedin service was on the 2nd of December 1969. With the introduction of the Twin Otter the flight frequency for the summer season moved to daily flights with four flights a week offered over the winter months.

The Twin Otter, ZK-CJZ at Alexandra. The starboard engine is shut down for the unloading and loading of passengers and luggage during the quick turn around at Alexandra

 

 

Mount Cook Airlines timetable from Alexandra effective 1 November 1969 

First Day Covers for the first flight of Mount Cook Airlines' de Havilland Canada Twin Otter between Dunedin and Alexandra

 

 

In September 1970 Mount Cook Airlines took delivery of the first of two 10-Seat Britten Norman Islanders ZK-DBW, with the second one being delivered the following month. On the 11th of October 1970 ZK-DBW was the first Britten Norman Islander to operate on the Queenstown-Alexandra-Dunedin service. ZK-DBV was used for the first time on the service on the 21st of October. 

While the Twin Otter, New Zealand’s first commuter turboprop, continued to be used it proved to be too big on the Central Otago service and it was cancelled from the New Zealand register on the 24th of September 1973. With service run exclusively by the smaller Britten Norman Islanders, which were a lot cheaper to operate, the decision was made to operate an all-year-around daily service with the frequency increased to two flights a day over the peak summer period throughout the 1970s. In the early 1980s the Saturday service was dropped leaving six days a week.

The 1972-1973 summer schedule with two daily Islander flights through Alexandra

BN Islander ZK-DBW, at Dunedin on 10 November 1970. Photo : B Kerr

 

A couple of photos of Britten Norman Islanders at Alexandra, ZK-DBV (above) and ZK-DBW (below). Photos : I Coates Collection

With Ansett New Zealand’s introduction of BAe 146s to the New Zealand domestic scene aviation in New Zealand changed dramatically. Demand for the Queenstown-Alexandra-Dunedin service fell as people drove to either Dunedin or Queenstown to get cheap fares rather than pay the more expensive fares offered on flights through Alexandra. Another nail in the coffin for the service was the completion of the Clyde Dam. Jules Tapper, who was Mount Cook Group's  General Aviation Manager at Queenstown and Regional Manager said on a Facebook post, Following the completion of the Clyde dam project in the early 1990's and the drop off in traffic on the Queenstown-Alexandra-Dunedin sectors, revenue was so little I canned the service as without support from Air New Zealand it was never going to be a viable proposition. We had up until then been running two flights a day over the sectors. 

The Queenstown-Alexandra-Dunedin service ended on the 1st of July 1991.

Mount Cook Airline timetable - October 1990 

BN Islander ZK-MCB at Dunedin in 1980. Photographer unknown.

The following year Mount Cook Airlines returned to Alexandra with winter evening Hawker Siddeley 748 flights from Christchurch to Alexandra after the installation of runway lights. This enabled a same-day Australia-Queenstown trip for skiers who, upon arrival at Christchurch could fly to Alexandra and then be bussed through the gorge to Queenstown. The 748s had not been total strangers to Alexandra. They often had to let down on the Alexandra NDB and fly visually through the Kawerau Gorge to Queenstown or, if the weather was such that they could not do that, they would divert to Alexandra.

 

During the 25 years Mount Cook Airlines operated through Alexandra four operators had tried, largely unsuccessfully, to operate scheduled services through the town. Sadly Mount Cook Airlines’ air service was to join their being unsuccessful.

I am wondering if anyone would happen to have any photos of Mount Cook Airlines aircraft at Alexandra, especially the HS 748s, that I could include in this post... Steve - westland831@gmail.com