End of Norfolk Island air service

 

Air Chathams' air service to Norfolk Island concluded today, the 24th of April 2025, with the final flights, 3C401 to Norfolk Island and the return flight 3C402 to Auckland being operated in ATR 72-500 ZK-MCU under the command of Captain David Keys and First Officer Jongho Kang with Ayla Booker and Sian Evans in the cabin.  

A big thanks to Leo De Chesne and Betty Mathews who captured the Air Chathams ATR 72 ZK-MCU operating the final flights in and out of Norfolk Island i=on 24 April 2025

A direct air service between Auckland and Norfolk Island has been flown reasonably consistently since the 1st of April 1947.

On the 1st of April 1947 the New Zealand National Airways Corporation (later known as NAC) began operating regional air services from Auckland to Tonga, Samoa and the Cook Islands via Norfolk Island service using Douglas DC-3s. At the same time Fiji was served using Sunderland flying boats. On the 14th of October 1952 NAC withdrew its Pacific services beyond Norfolk Island. The Norfolk Island DC-3 service continued until September 1955 when it too was terminated. 

For more on NAC's service to Norfolk Island see :

https://3rdlevelnz.blogspot.com/2021/08/norfolk-island-just-4-hours-away-by-nac.html

In November 1955 TEAL took over the Norfolk Island-Auckland service. The TEAL service was operated fortnightly using a chartered Qantas flight Douglas DC-4. The DC-4 operated the Norfolk service until the the 1st of June 1975. 

For photos of a QANTAS Douglas Dc-4 scheme at Norfolk Island see :

http://www.aussieairliners.org/dc-4/vh-anf/vhanf.html

On the 4th of June 1975 NAC returned to Norfolk Island operating a Fokker F27-500 series Friendship on the Auckland-Norfolk Island route under charter to Air New Zealand. 

After NAC's merger with Air New Zealand on the 1st of April 1978 Air New Zealand continued the Friendship service until Boeing 737s replaced the Fokker Friendships on the Auckland-Norfolk Island service on the 23rd of September 1984.

In 2008 Air New Zealand commenced Airbus 320 flights to Norfolk Island supplementing the Air New Zealand Boeing 737 flights. In March 2009, the Airbus 320 aircraft replaced the Boeings on all flights between Norfolk Island and Auckland.

In 2012 Air New Zealand won an Australian government tender to operate flights from Brisbane and Sydney to Norfolk Island with two flights per week from Sydney and one per week from Brisbane. These flights began on the 2nd of March 2012 using Airbus 320s. In 2016 Air New Zealand's General Manager Networks Richard Thomson announced that, "The Auckland-Norfolk Island route is not commercially sustainable so it makes sense to focus our operations out of Australia, where there’s good potential" and that the Auckland- Norfolk Island service would end in May 2017. 

For a photo an Air New Zealand Airbus 320 at Norfolk Island see

http://www.airport-data.com/aircraft/photo/001015280.html

Norfolk Island Airlines was the successor to this service. Using a Boeing 737 leased from Air Nauru it began a weekly service on the 17th of June 2017. The first flights from Brisbane to Norfolk Island and Auckland (NAURU 345) and from Auckland to Norfolk Island and Brisbane (NAURU 346) were operated by Boeing 737-319 VH-XNU. Due to increasing compliance costs Norfolk Island Airlines pulled out to the Norfolk Island-Auckland route on the 13th of  January 2018 with the last flights being flown by Boeing 737-36N VH-PNI. The airline ceased operating totally on the 17th of March 2018. 

Seeing an opportunity Air Chathams sent a management team to visit Norfolk Island on 26-28 March and meet with relevant industry stakeholders. This was a due diligence exercise to decide if the airline could provide a service from Auckland to Norfolk Island. The team used Rockwell Commander 690A ZK-PVB for the visit. 

A couple of months later, on the 19th of May 2018, Air Chathams' Convair 580 ZK-CIE flew a charter to Norfolk Island as CHATHAMS 581 for the 25th Norfolk Island Country Music Festival. a music festival. This was Air Chathams' first international air service. The return flight, CHATHAMS 581, operated on the 26th of May. 

Convair 580 ZK-CIE on arrival at Norfolk Island on 19 May 2018

In October 2018 Air Chathams returned to Norfolk Island. On both the 2nd and the 3rd Convair 580 freighter ZK-KFL operated freight flights to Norfolk Island as CHATHAMS 580 and the return flight CHATHAMS 581.

This was followed by a series of passenger charter flights between Auckland and Norfolk Island. The first was operated on the 25th of October 2018 with Convair 580 ZK-CIE operating as CHATHAMS 401 to Norfolk and CHATHAMS 402 on the return. The charter flights were arranged by Pukekohe Travel, which had for a number of years offered tours to the Chatham Islands in conjunction with Air Chathams. A total of five such charter flights were made.

These charter flights led the way to Air Chathams' flying into Norfolk Island from the 6th of September 2019. The new route was initally served by Air Chathams' Convair 580 aircraft. The first flight was flown under the command of founder and owner Craig Emeny and his son, Duane Emeny, in Convair ZK-CIB. The weekly service was operated on Fridays with the flights scheduled to take 2 hours 20 minutes. The flight to Norfolk Island, 3C 401, departed Auckland at 9am and arrived at 10.20am Norfolk Island time. The return flight, 3C 402, left Norfolk Island at 11.20am and arrived back into Auckland at 2.40pm. 

Air Chathams' first scheduled international service. Convair 580 ZK-CIB on Norfolk Island on 6 September 2019. Don Colway photo

Father and son... Craig and Duane Emeny on Norfolk - Air Chathams photo

An Auckland Airport press statement Duane Emeny saying, “We are really excited to re-establish the direct link between Auckland and Norfolk Island and we are really encouraged by the early interest we’ve had from passengers, with forward bookings indicating it’s going to be another successful route for our family airline.”

Air Chathams' Convair 580 ZK-CIE arriving on 24 January 2020

Covid played havoc with Air Chathams' Norfolk Island service with the flights suspended on the 20th of March 2020 with Convair 580 ZK-CIE flying these services. 

A repatriation flight between Auckland and Norfolk Island was operated with Fairchild Metroliner ZK-CID on the 31st of January 2021.

With the the announcement of the opening of the trans-Tasman bubble on the 15th of April 2021 Air Chathams announced they would resumed flights to and from Norfolk Island from  the 27th of May 27 using Saab 340 aircraft.

Unfortunately, the airline had to delay the recommencement of flights to Norfolk Island the day before due to delays in legislative process in New Zealand because Air Chathams being had not been added to the Air Border Order as an approved Quarantine Free Travel airline. Flights resumed on the 10th of June 2021 with ATR 72-500 ZK-MCO being used under the command of Matt Emeny and Paul Cattermole alongside Nikki and Alana looking after the cabin. This was the first ATR-scheduled service to Norfolk Island. 

A week later, on the 17th of June 2021, Air Chathams introduced Saab 340s to the Norfolk Island service with ZK-CIZ operating the Auckland to Norfolk Island flight, 3C 401 and return 3C 402. The resumption of services was short-lived and these were suspended on the 17th of August 2021 due to Auckland being placed back in lockdown.

The Norfolk Island service was not to resume until the 1st of September 2022 with Saab 340 ZK-CIZ operating the service.

From the 5th of December 2022 Air Chathams' increased the frequency of the Norfolk Island flights to twice weekly, the flights operating on Mondays and Thursdays. The Norfolk Island flights at that time were generally operated by Saab 340s.

Air Chathams Saab 340 ZK-CIZ at Norfolk Island on 1 September 2022. Photo : Burnt Pine Travel Facebook Page

The next change to Air Chathams' Norfolk Island services came on the 7th of September 2023 when the airline replaced the Saab 340s with their ATR 72-500s. ZK-MCU operated the first ATR flights 3C 401 to Norfolk Island and the return flight 3C 402. 

Soon after, however, in November 2023, Air Chathams announced it was cutting back its Norfolk Island service to operate on a seasonal basis. Norfolk Island tour operator Pinetree Tours posted on on their Facebook page...

Air Chathams is proud to commit the flagship ATR72-500 aircraft to its Norfolk Island air service providing greater capacity for freight, charters, and tourism offerings. Upon reviewing the demand for the Norfolk Island air service, for both New Zealand and Norfolk Island communities - we will be aligning our scheduled flight service to a seasonal calendar. This means all scheduled flights to Norfolk Island from May to August 2024 will be withdrawn. Charter flights will still be available on request over this period, although enquiries will have to confirm which aircraft they require. The normal weekly Norfolk Island scheduled flights will return from 5th of September 2024. We appreciate our customer’s continued support across the Norfolk Island route, as well as all the destinations Air Chathams connect and serve.

Weekly flights recommenced on the 29th of August 2024. 

Air Chathams ATR 72 ZK-MCO at Norfolk Island. Photo Burnt Pine Travel Facebook page

In January 2025 Air Chathams announced that the scheduled Norfolk Island seasonal service between Auckland and Norfolk Island would end in April 2025 and in future only operate on a charter basis.

Air Chathams' Chief commercial officer Duane Emeny told Stuff the decision was “unfortunate”. “Due to escalating costs to operate this international flight into Norfolk International Airport and a reduction in route support subsidies provided by Norfolk Island Regional Council, we have decided that our ATR aircraft asset is best utilised on other parts of our New Zealand scheduled and charter network. “We will work with long standing tour operators on charter flights to Norfolk that align with key events on Norfolk Island that tend to experience good demand from Kiwi tourists and organised groups ie bowls clubs etc. However, the weekly schedule services will cease from April 2025.” He acknowledged the “huge support” the airline had received from the Norfolk Island community since scheduled services started in September 2019.

Today's final flights mark the end of the latest chapter in flights between New Zealand and Norfolk Island. As we turn the page on this chapter one wonders what the next page may bring.