Mount Cook Airline HS748

 

Mount Cook Airlines HS748

Mount Cook Airlines HS748

From 1968-1996, Mount Cook Airline's flagship was the British-built Hawker Siddeley HS748 turboprop.  This leaflet was produced by Mount Cook Airline in response to the launch of Newmans Air with its De Havilland Dash 7 aircraft, because of inference from Newmans Air that the HS748 was inferior and dated in comparison (noting the Dash 7 had a high wing configuration, whereas many seats on the HS748 would have views partly obscured by the wing. The leaflet notes it has 44 seats and is fully pressurised.

The leaflet is interesting for depicting Mount Cook Airline's route network at the time, but also its coach network (Wellington-Auckland, Christchurch-Queenstown, as well as Auckland-Napier).  At the time, the airline route was a tourism backbone of Kerikeri-Auckland-Rotorua-Christchurch-Mount Cook-Queenstown. 

The date of this leaflet is unclear, but is likely to be around 1985-1987.  At the time Mount Cook Airline was between 35% and 77% owned by Air New Zealand, it was eventually to be come a fully owned subsidiary in 1991.

Proof that all 747s are not created equal

 

Air New Zealand Boeing 747 launch leaflet

With the introduction of Air New Zealand's first Boeing 747-200 in 1981, it promoted the launch with this colour leaflet called "Proof.. that all 747s are not created equal" to highlight how it thought it had a LOPA (Layout of Passenger Accommodation) to beat its rivals (most of which already flew Boeing 747s.

The leaflet depicted an aircraft that by 2023 standards would be seen as "premium light", as four out of the five main deck cabins were all in economy class. 388 seats in economy class in a 3-4-3 configuration is fairly "normal", and it claims the seat pitch for all economy seats is identical (although it does not reveal what that was, it is believed to be 34 inches (which was fairly generous, and increasingly so as airlines in the 80s and 90s would seek to pack more seats into a 747).  Although seat technology has moved on, it is noticeable that today that level of seat pitch is seen only in Economy Stretch on long-haul aircraft today. The seat is called the Fairchild Burns 2000 Mark II.

The 747 was the launch aircraft for the first generation of Air New Zealand's business class, then called "Pacific Class".  It was located in the small upper deck, with five rows of seats, four on one side had a middle table.  Air New Zealand did however call it a "new concept" in economy class air travel.  Sheepskin clad seats, with a higher seat height, the customary side storage bins seen in 747s upper decks, added to the exclusivity of the upper deck location. Air New Zealand also highlighted the use of the rectangular staircase rather than the traditional spiral staircase on other 747s at the time.  It seems likely that the Pacific Class seats were in fact the economy class seats with sheepskin seat covers and greater pitch!

First Class was highlighted, being in the nose cabin, named as the Recaro Dream Chair 2020 (this was an age when naming seats for 21st century years was clearly the trend).  This is a classic first class recliner, with tilting seat bottom and legrest.  Noting the seat pitch of 60 inches, and there being 16 seats in the cabin, this is relatively crowded by today's standards for first class.  Indeed around 20 years later Air New Zealand would take out one row of its next generation first class seats on 747-400s so it was easy to walk between rows even if the front row was fully reclined.  Indeed, look today at the LOPA for Lufthansa's Boeing 747-8s (below) with first class taking up only eight single seats, it is clear that long-haul first class has progressed significantly in terms of cabin and seat comfort (let alone business class).

Finally it is worth noting that this was the age of very basic inflight entertainment. All cabins had movie screens and projectors, and so passengers would face a single choice of inflight movies on long flights, or simply choose to wear eye masks.  Headsets for sound were all fairly basic, in economy being essentially plastic tubes and in the premium classes soft foam covered headphones being the order of the day.

Air New Zealand's Boeing 747-200s replaced the McDonnell Douglas DC-10s, themselves tainted by the Erebus disaster. These aircraft would be the flagships until 1990 when the Boeing 747-400s would appear, and the last Boeing 747-200 was phased out in 2000.  In the 1980s they would fly the flagship Auckland-Honolulu-Los Angeles-London route (initially to Gatwick before landing rights were obtained for Heathrow), and also the Auckland-Papeete-Los Angeles route, along with services to Singapore, Hong Kong and Tokyo Narita (and umpteen Trans-Tasman services).  Boeing 747-200s did NOT have the range to fly non-stop with a commercial load between New Zealand and the USA, which is why the Boeing 747-400s when they emerged in 1990 would become the new flagship for the airline.

They would be refurbished in the 1990s with the "Pacific Wave" livery and "proper" business class seating (and first class removed, as they were relegated to secondary routes), before being phased out. I flew once on one, from Los Angeles to Auckland via Honolulu (in 1998), and was fortunate to have been upgraded to business class.

Wairarapa Airlines 1985

 

Wairarapa Airlines timetable No.8 12 August 1985

Wairarapa Airlines timetable No.8 12 August 1985

Wairarapa Airlines from 1980-1997 meant that Masterton Airport was not without scheduled air services, notable for a location that struggles for quick access to airline services, with either a train followed by a bus to Wellington, or a drive over the Remutaka Hill Road, or northbound to Palmerston North, currently via the Pahiatua Track.  3rdLevel NZ Blog has the full history, whereas this timetable is a snapshot of services from August 1985. 

Noted on the timetable is the Hansell's logo, known as being a food producer, Hansells owned Wairarapa Airline at the time (from October 1983 until 1987). At this time the airline was flying Piper Chieftains and Piper Aztecs. Its network included direct flights to Auckland, Rotorua, Nelson, and Christchurch, but also between Auckland and Rotorua via Tauranga, Christchurch to Nelson. It also sold tickets connecting on Eagle Airways, Southern Cross Airways, Mt Cook Airlines and Air Albatross.  As can be seen its fares were $130 ($431 in 2023 dollars) Auckland-Masterton and it even sold tickets Auckland-Christchurch via Masterton for $170 full fare ($564 in 2023 dollars), although that involved a 4hr 10 minute journey including one hour layover in Masterton.  The timetable includes other fares, and freight as well.  Check in time was 20 minutes before the flight, with a baggage allowance of 16kg per passenger. Smoking was prohibited (thankfully!). 

Hood Aerodrome in Masterton has had a chequered history of airline service, with Air NZ withdrawing in 2014 after operating since 2009. The people of Masterton would no doubt be pleased if another airline could manage to make operations from Hood viable once more.

Air New Zealand Pacific Class - the beginning of domestic business class

 

Air New Zealand Pacific Class (domestic) 

Air New Zealand Pacific Class (domestic)

Following the launch of Ansett New Zealand providing main-trunk competition between Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch for the first time, in 1987, Air New Zealand rushed rather quickly to respond.  Whilst Ansett New Zealand for some time offered a domestic first class (later rebranded to business class), Air NZ decided to emulate its international business class in terms of branding - as it had already called business class "Pacific Class" to distinguish it from other airlines (following the likes of many international airlines, such as Singapore Airlines which for years called its business class "Raffles Class").

Air NZ had only had a business class since 1981 with the introduction of its Boeing 747s, but by 1987 it had introduced its Boeing 767-200ERs all of which had Pacific Class on board, with reclining seats (and notably no First Class).  The airline had been operating a few regular domestic services with its 767s for a couple of years, but this was not daily, and few passengers availed themselves of paying for the better seating with such an occasional schedule.  However, this leaflet is for the introduction of Pacific Class on its Boeing 737-200 fleet operating on routes between Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin and some services to Hamilton, Palmerston North and Invercargill at the time.  

Air NZ sold Pacific Class as being "just $22 more than the standard one-way economy fare" (not a discounted one), about $53 in 2023 prices.  What would you get for that and how does that compare to the later iteration of business class and indeed priority service today with a single class domestic service?

• Priority checkin (standard today for those with Gold or Elite status, or Koru Club membership)
• Koru lounge access (albeit lounges only available at the time only in the four main centre airports)
• Fruit juice, hot refresher towels and complementary newspapers on board
• Seats that are sheepskin-covered, but still standard economy seats, with the centre seat folded down as a tray - this is similar to intra-Europe business class on almost all airlines, such as Lufthansa, British Airways and Air France/KLM, but also Air NZ Works Deluxe on international A320 services today.
• A two-course meal on all breakfast, lunch and dinner flights, with snacks in between meal times (noting smoked salmon, fresh fruits and cheeses).

Air NZ finishes the leaflet noting it has four classes of service on 737 services. Economy, Pacific and City Saver and Super City Saver (the latter two are no-frills with 25% and 50% discounts on fares, but are on aircraft with a different LOPA (no Pacific Class seating) and no on-board catering).

What isn't included that would be expected with a short-haul business class today (and was part of the last iteration of domestic business class service) is:

• Priority boarding
• Additional luggage allowance
• Priority luggage
• On-board bar service (mentioning fruit juice but not alcoholic drinks indicates Air NZ didn't have a licence for in-flight alcohol on domestic flights as of yet.

This leaflet heralded the start of a "golden age" of domestic main trunk competition between airlines based on service.  The images of the Koru lounge, full of people dressed for business, are intended to illustrate that there is "no need" to pay to join, when you could cough up money and have access before your flight. The other image of the cabin is intended to depict the space available with a blocked middle seat, plus on-board meal service (with coffee cups not wine or beer glasses!). Clearly a mock-up as the economy cabin is behind a wall!  This was only the first iteration of domestic business class by Air NZ, as it competed with Ansett New Zealand for the high-end domestic market.

Domestic business class was abolished in 2002, following the airline's restructuring in the aftermath of the collapse of Ansett Australia, and the Government partly renationalising the airline. The reasoning being that few passengers paid for business class on domestic routes (the notable main users were Members of Parliament, passengers with onward international business class connections or passengers with Airpoints status using domestic upgrade vouchers). 

Skyferry timetable October 1985 - The building of Picton airport

 

Skyferry timetable No.3 31 October 1985

Skyferry timetable No.3 31 October 1985

Skyferry was one of the more successful small airline ventures started up in the 1980s, with the company Outdoor Aviation Ltd of Wellington paying to develop what was a topdressing aircraft airstrip at Koromiko south of Picton, into a viable airport for its operations.  It launched services between Wellington Picton at a time when there was concern over the lack of competition for passenger trips between the islands by sea (noting the Air NZ flights from Wellington to Blenheim didn't go to Picton, but were also markedly more expensive than many were willing to pay.  By November 1985, Skyferry was operating the single-engined Cessna Caravan with 14 seats and luggage capacity to match.

As you can see from the timetable, it was a frequent daily service, with airfares designed to be competitive, including "ten-trip tickets" for those living in either Wellington or Marlborough seeking to commute or visit their respective holiday homes.  Skyferry also scheduled a shuttle service to meet flights at the airport in Picton to go to downtown Picton.

Skyferry's story is described in depth at 3rd Level NZ. It ultimately ended up in receivership in 1991, following expansion of services from Wellington to Blenheim (which meant competition with Air NZ). 

After Skyferry's collapse, some of its assets would be resurrected to become Soundsair, which is a different story and one that continues to this day!

Kiwi Air timetable March 1985 - giving Tokoroa and Ohakune airline services

 

KiwiAir timetable 18 March 1985

Kiwi Air timetable 18 March 1985

In 1985 KiwiAir started flying, headquartered at Paraparaumu, but with a schedule primarily to serve the skifields near Ruapehu (going to Karioi airfield, listed as suitable for Ohakune, Raetihi, Taihape and Waiouru, but now inactive). The key routes were Wellington to Ohakune and Auckland to Ohakune via Tokoroa, presumably because the range to fly from Auckland was insufficient (fares were apparently not sold between Tokoroa and Ohakune). The objective was to cater for ski field business, with fares to reflect this, but the airline was not a success.

3rdlevelNZ describes the brief history of KiwiAir.

Great Barrier Airlines timetable August 1984

Great Barrier Airlines timetable 1 August 1984

Great Barrier Airlines timetable 1 August 1984

Unlike many of the small airlines I have published timetables for, Great Barrier Airlines still exists, albeit now Barrier Air.  Most recently Barrier Air took over the Auckland-Kaitaia route after Air NZ abandoned it, and it flies to Whitianga, as well as services between Great Barrier and Tauranga, and notably flights to Great Barrier from North Shore Airport at Dairy Flat. 

In 1984 Great Barrier Airlines was very much about providing a faster service between Auckland and Great Barrier Island. As with others, I won't repeat the excellent history of the airline published at 3rdlevelNZ which has much more detail about the origins and growth of the airline. 

This timetable depicts services to two Great Barrier airports at Claris and Okiwi. Services to Okiwi ceased in 2016, as Claris is the main airport on the island. Okiwi did not have a sealed runway at the time of this timetable.

At the time, Great Barrier Airlines had introduced the Britten-Norman Islander aircraft (depicted on the front page), an unpressurised small airliner with capacity for nine passengers (and still in production!). 

Notable is the blanking out of the price ($47) when I picked up the timetable, no doubt because the long-running wage and price freeze of the previous Muldoon Government had come to an end.

Motueka Air timetable 1985

 

Motueka Air Timetable 9 December 1985

Motueka Air Timetable 9 December 1985

Before Air Nelson was Motueka Air Services Ltd which in 1984 launched flights from Motueka to Wellington, a route which had no competition from Air New Zealand.  It saved Motueka residents from a drive to Nelson Airport, although in recent years that drive has significantly improved due to opening of the Stoke Bypass in Nelson and the Ruby Bay Bypass shortening the highway route between Motueka and Nelson. The airline notably also flew from Motueka to Takaka (a one hour drive) connecting with services to Wellington. It operated Piper Aztecs between Motueka and Wellington, but only a Cessna Skyhawk from Motueka to Takaka.

 3rd Level New Zealand has the history of the airline.  The airline eventually interlined with Ansett New Zealand. The timetable depicts a double-daily service to Wellington on weekdays and one daily on Saturday and Sunday. 

By 1988 Motueka Air merged with Air Nelson (which was founded by the same owners), but services between Motueka and Wellington terminated in 1996 when the service was sold to Associated Aviation in Paraparaumu. 

Above is the airline's fourth timetable, and at the time the airline reportedly had a 67% load factor.  Today Motueka does not appear to have a scheduled airline service, probably because the driving time to Nelson Airport makes it much less compelling as an option.  However Takaka does have a service to Wellington and Karamea with Golden Bay Air.

Last Safe Air Argosy

Last Safe Air Argosy flight

Straits Air Freight Express (SAFE Air) was a mainstay of cross Cook Strait air services for decades.  Part of its service over the years is the little known New Zealand Railways Air Services which survived until 1983, but SAFE Air was a key air freight provider beyond that. In 1972 SAFE Air was bought by the National Airways Corporation (NAC), so it was inherited by Air New Zealand.  The Argosy fleet operated from 1968 primarily longer distance freight flights, and for some time (1982-1990) operated passenger services to the Chatham Islands with a custom built pressurised passenger capsule. 

As a Wellingtonian, the sound of the two Armstrong Whitworth Argosy's was a mainstay of SAFE Air services, distinct from the older noisier Bristol Freighters, with their distinct appearance and gentle drone. 

Coast Air - Giving Greymouth a connection

 

Coast Air timetable 01 October 1986

Coast Air timetable 01 October 1986 including fares

In the heyday of domestic airline competition, Coast Air sought to take advantage of Greymouth's small airport to provide a direct connection to Christchurch (at a time when the other options were a rail service with very basic rolling stock, or SH73 which was threatened with closure over winter). As usual, the 3rd Level New Zealand blog has an excellent post on its history which I shall not repeat here.

This timetable from 1 October 1986 depicts the airline operating a double daily (weekday) service between Christchurch and Greymouth (Greymouth Airport is a small airport which has not had scheduled airline service since 2008, and has not had scheduled services from Air NZ and its predecessors), and also between Nelson and Christchurch.  At the time it was using a DeHavilland Twin Otter with 20 seats, which today would require one flight attendant to be on board as well.  

A Twin Otter with Short Take Off and Landing (STOL) capabilities is excellent for the short runway at Greymouth, but with fixed undercarriage and no pressurisation, it was slower than the Fokker F27 Friendships Air NZ was operating at the time.  This meant fares between Nelson and Christchurch would have to reflect a slower schedule (25 minutes more flight time scheduled) and it would have been less comfortable and more vulnerable to adverse weather conditions than the pressured F27. 

The rest of the story on 3rd Level New Zealand is worth a read, as the airline eventually closed in October 1988, in part due to Air NZ replacing its 48 seat F27s with 19 seat Metroliners and increasing the frequency of its Hokitika service.

Finally, note the airfares. Christchurch to Nelson at $70.91 and $84.55, why the odd figures? Because it is really $78 and $93 AFTER GST, which was only introduced that year (so the prices are pre-GST).  Today Air NZ operates up to eight return flights a day on this route. Fares on say 16 June 2023 range from $84 (seat) to $292 (flexirefund). Updating Coast Air's prices to today, it would be about $228 to $249 (noting GST is 50% higher at 15% today). So it may be fair to say prices are in real terms on the only route still operating are slightly lower than what Coast Air was offering in 1986. 

Air Nelson first timetable

Air Nelson's first timetable December 1985

Air Nelson's first timetable December 1985

In 1985, a hitherto largely unknown airline emerged, Air Nelson Ltd, a subsidiary of Motueka Air.  This is its first timetable effective 16 December 1985, introducing new competition on the Wellington-Nelson route, notably with Air New Zealand. Note a 15 minute checkin time, with two return services each weekday and one each on Saturday and Sunday.  Air Nelson also notes it offers fares connecting to nine other airports in the North Island via other third level airline, Eagle Air.   It was operating a Piper PA-31 Navajo with 6 seats for passengers.

I'm not going to repeat the excellent history of Air Nelson published here. It notes that Air Nelson opened only days before Air Albatross ceased operations, on the same route, so it gained passengers well above expectations. Of course the growth of Air Nelson was a great success story,  Within three years Air New Zealand, having decided to phase out the Fokker Friendship on regional routes, would buy 50% of Air Nelson, in order to use Air Nelson as a feeder to its major routes.  By 1990 Air Nelson would be operating Saab SF-340, Fairchild Metroliners and have a network extending to Christchurch, Timaru and Palmerston North.   In 1995 Air New Zealand bought the remaining 50% of the airline, as it became one of the subsidiaries operating part of the airline's regional network (but Nelson still as its headquarters). 

The SF340 would the mainstay of the airline until 2007 when the last was phased out in favour of the Bombardier (now De Havilland once more) Q-300/Dash 8.  In 2014 Air New Zealand announced its other subsidiary, Eagle Airways, would be closed, so Air Nelson would take over additional services, which was completed by 2016.  In 2019 Air New Zealand finally merged Air Nelson completely into its business, ceasing its separate existence.

Air New Zealand introduces the Boeing 767-200ER - and reintroduces international flights from Wellington to Australia

 

Air New Zealand Boeing 767-200ER leaflet 1985

Air New Zealand Boeing 767-200ER leaflet 1985

In 1981 Air NZ ceased flying internationally from Wellington as it withdrew its Douglas DC-8-52 passenger fleet from service due to mounting losses. After that there was around a four year gap before it restarted flights using its first Boeing 767-200ER aircraft. This leaflet promote the new aircraft before they came into operation, as three had been ordered. Not only would they return international flights to Wellington (in competition with Qantas which had not ceased operations as it was using Boeing 747-SP aircraft before switching to its own Boeing 767s before Air NZ started to fly them), but they were the first Air NZ aircraft to operate from Wellington with an international business class and the first Air NZ wide body aircraft for regular service at Wellington (and the last).  The 767-200ER would also become a mainstay of Trans-Tasman flights to and from Christchurch and supplement Auckland services too, including the Perth route, but also would operate regular Auckland-Christchurch and a handful of weekly Auckland-Wellington and Wellington-Christchurch services (my first wide-body aircraft flight was on a 767-200ER from Christchurch to Wellington in my teens).

The Boeing 767-200ER would become a mainstay of Air NZ's short to medium haul international services, operating until 2005, when finally replaced by the airline's first generation of Airbus A320s. Of course the 767s with 220 passengers had a lot of capacity, so service frequencies were very poor by today's standards (by comparison today's Airbus A320NEO have only 165 seats). After a month of introductory service, the full summer schedule indicates only three flights a week WLG-SYD and one a week WLG-MEL and WLG-BNE.  Note also the absence of the early morning departures seen today for this route (no flights before 0800) and midnight arrivals (no arrivals after 2220) for Wellington. 

Air New Zealand Boeing 767 postcard and publicity card

Air New Zealand Boeing 767 publicity card (flip side)