Newmans Air timetable October 1985

 

Newmans Air timetable 1 October 1985

Newmans Air advertising cabin comfort and service

Newmans Air passenger information

Newmans Air fare types

Newmans Air departures from Auckland, Rotorua, Christchurch and Mt Cook

Newmans Air fares and route network

Newmans Air departures from Mount Cook, Queenstown and Wanaka

Newmans Air departures from Te Anau and passenger information

Newmans Air passenger information including in flight catering

Newmans rental and the Helicopter Line advertising

Newmans was a major tour and scheduled coach brand in New Zealand for over a century, originating in Nelson and until 1972 was a family-owned business focusing on scheduled, charter and tour coach services. It was acquired by Transport Nelson Ltd (TNL - Nelson's leading trucking operator, notable because Nelson was the largest New Zealand city without a railway by this date). Newmans by this time had scheduled operations in both islands.  TNL sought to acquire the Mount Cook Group in the early 1980s, but was rebuffed by Mount Cook's shareholders, as Newmans wanted to integrate the airline services of Mount Cook (and its rival coach and tour operations) into a larger operation.  However as Mount Cook Group accepted Air New Zealand as a shareholder to integrate into the latter's dominant domestic and growing international network.

Newmans decided to launch its own airline in competition, using De Havilland Dash-7 aircraft which it saw as superior to Mount Cook's HS748s, not least because the overhead wing design of the Dash-7 enabled unfettered views of the scenery along the Southern Alps.  Newmans also wanted to offer superior on-board service to Mount Cook. It started operations on 13 February 1985 Auckland-Rotorua-Christchurch-Queenstown.  Glentanner airport was added as a stop at Mount Cook, because Mount Cook Group didn't allow Newmans Air to use its airport. 

Although popular with passengers, the four-engined Dash 7 was a fuel-thirsty aircraft, especially since its STOL (Short Take Off and Landing) capabilities were really only needed at Glentanner Aerodrome.  However, Newmans Air did later operate services through Ashburton airport for some Christchurch-Queenstown services. 

Newmans Air struggled financially, losing $5m in 18 months. Air New Zealand's effective take-over of Mount Cook Airline had not helped, as it funnelled much more business to its competitor, as Newmans would interline with only a few foreign airlines at Auckland to get inbound tourism business.

but with relaxation of foreign ownership restrictions on domestic airlines (allowing up to 50% foreign ownership), saw Australian carrier Ansett buy 50% of Newmans in 1986, with Brierley Investments buying 27.5%, the intention being to set up a rival to Air New Zealand on major domestic routes.   What was initially branded as Ansett-Newmans ordered De Havilland Dash-8 aircraft to replace the Dash-7s (a later version of the Dash 8 flies today with Air New Zealand).  Those Dash-8s were branded Ansett Newmans (more on this is at the 3rdlevel blog including pictures) with Ansett Australian font, and the Newmans pegasus logo on the tail.

The big breakthrough was on 28 January 1987 when Ansett Newmans started flying non-stop flights between Auckland and Christchurch with the Dash-8 aircraft and within a month the airline had rebranded to Ansett New Zealand.  This was a soft launch, as on 25 July 1987 Ansett New Zealand's full service rival to Air New Zealand would fly Auckland-Wellington-Christchurch with Boeing 737-100 aircraft, and the Dash 7s had been sold.  By April 1988 foreign ownership restrictions were removed altogether (unheard of internationally, as New Zealand was the first country in the world to allow fully foreign owned domestic airline ownership) and Ansett Australia bought the Newmans and Brierley shareholdings of Ansett New Zealand owned, and Ansett New Zealand became a fully owned subsidiary of Ansett Australia.

Of course the story of Ansett New Zealand is for another day, but Newmans Air was perhaps the first "big" rival to major airline incumbents in the 1980s which providing the launching pad for the biggest battle of them all.