17 January 2017

A North Island Road Trip 25 years ago #14

Now ATR 72s and Bombardier Q300s offer Auckland-Tauranga services. In 1992 this was the domain of Eagle Air's Embraer Bandeirantes. Now both Eagle Air and the Bandits have gone. ZK-KIP at Tauranga on 23 January 1992.

For a full history of Eagle Air see:



8 comments:

  1. By far my favorite ever NZ airline. My father used to fly the bandits.

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  2. Mount Cook are not currently servicing Tauranga.
    Only Air Nelson flies the 3 routes. This may change again if demand increases.

    The Auckland route was recently aligned with the same number of frequencies as other main regional centres, NPE, NPL, PMR and NSN. 8 returns a day.
    A large proportion of people using this short flight is connecting traffic.

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    Replies
    1. Are you sure about that? I flew in an ATR in December Wellington to Tauranga

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    2. The original poster has slightly jumped the gun.
      Mount Cook will stop flying to TRG from Feb 6.

      Currently there is one ATR return WLG-TRG-WLG on weekday mornings. This change will result in there being to 4 Q300 returns a day.

      CHC-TRG changed to 3 Q300 returns a day at the end of November.

      The AKL-TRG route remains the busiest because of the high number of international connections.

      ATRs could be used again if demand increases and at short notice, as a swap due engineering or swap due to Q300 capacity being better suited to flying elsewhere.

      For the current terminal size, the slightly smaller Q300s mean smaller concentrations of passengers at a time.

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    3. Mount Cook stop flying into TRG on Friday 3rd March. Everything else you said is correct

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  3. Back when Tauranga was a quiet place with the bandits and the Saabs and Rotorua was where it was all happening... Interesting how times have changed

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  4. TRG currently doesn't do ATR services to Auckland it's only Q300s. I enjoyed the rest of the blog tho on Eagle Air History

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  5. Managed to catch the end of the Bantam/Metro and Saab era. Small airport and free parking. Sit out front and even picnic tables on the roadside lawn.
    Used to be a flight to Hamilton if you looked for it...real cheap.

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