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.

Eagle Airways Timetable 29 October 1985

 

Cover and schematic route map

Bargain fares and contents

Passenger information

Passenger information and standard fares

Auckland and Gisborne departures

Gisborne and Hamilton departures

Hertz and Bargain fares

Napier and New Plymouth departures

New Plymouth, Palmerston North and Rotorua departures

Rotorua, Tauranga, Wanganui and Wellington departures

Wellington departures and Southern Cross Airways

Cookson's Airline Division

Eagle Airways was one of the most successful airlines to take advantage of the 1982 deregulation of the airline industry, although its history dates back to 1969 organisationally, and 1975 for the first type of airline service.  A detailed history is available here but by 1985 it was owned by NZI Finance and already had an automated computerised reservation system, which linked to Air New Zealand, as it had grown to become a major North Island third level airline, having merged with Napier based Air Central. Eagle Airways was Hamilton based, and its largest aircraft was the Embraer Bandeirante which had 18 seats for passengers, plus a toilet, and although unpressurised, it was a significant step up from the 9 seat  Piper Chieftains or 5 seat Beechcraft Barons operated on some routes.  

This timetable highlights a number of aspects of the airline's service at the time:

• Checkin closed at 20 minutes before departure
• Baggage allowance was 16kg for a single item
• Standard fares ranged from $53 (Hamilton-Tauranga/Rotorua) to $142 (Wellington-Auckland) ($177 to $474 in today's prices exc. GST). Bargain fares ranged from $32 to $85 (seven days advance purchase)
• Children under 15 half fare, under 4yo not occupying a seat, free.
• Connecting services to  Southern Cross Airways (Auckland-Whangarei) and Cookson (Wairoa)
• Many routes hubbed through Hamilton (Auckland-Wellington was possible but a 2.5 hour flight via Hamilton and Palmerston North).

Direct routes were as follows:

• Auckland-Hamilton
• Gisborne-Hamilton
• Gisborne-Napier
• Hamilton-Napier
• Hamilton-New Plymouth
• Hamilton-Palmerston North
• Hamilton-Rotorua
• Hamilton-Tauranga
• Hamilton-Wanganui
• Napier-Palmerston North
• New Plymouth-Palmerston North
• New Plymouth-Wanganui
• Palmerston North-Wellington

What is perhaps most notable about this era was how well connected a LOT of regional cities and towns were with each other with such services, much more so than today. 

By 1988 Eagle Airways and Air Nelson had started working together, effectively enabling tickets to be sold connecting across both islands, but this was all to change later than year when Air New Zealand saw the opportunity with the disposal of its Fokker F27 Friendship fleet to acquire an efficient smaller airline to operate regional services, and bought 50% of both Eagle Airways and Air Nelson.  This saw Eagle Airways coming under the Air New Zealand umbrella, with it taking over services from Auckland to Kaitaia, Whangarei and Gisborne, and progressively took over many of the North Island Air New Zealand routes.  More Embraer Bandeirantes were acquired later supplemented by Swearingen Metroliners.  In 1993, Air New Zealand bought the remaining 50% of Eagle Airways making it a fully owned subsidiary.  The subsidiary would remain for many years, with its staff and operations subject to their own conditions and management, fitting in with the wider Air New Zealand network (as did Air Nelson and Mt Cook Airlines). The final chapter was the introduction in 2001 of the Beechcraft 1900D to replace all of the legacy Eagle Airways fleet, so Eagle Airways was the operator of the smallest aircraft in the Air New Zealand family, with 19 seats, flying to the lowest density airports.  The Beech 1900D would fly on until 2016 when Air New Zealand decided to close Eagle Airways as it could not find an economical replacement for the aircraft, and routes that could not be transitioned to the De Havilland Dash-8 were closed.

Eagle Airways had a significant presence in New Zealand airline history, which provided both access and competition to many regional centres that didn't previously exist, it was so successful its largest rival would simply buy it up and use its efficient and well honed operations to provide services to smaller airports. 

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.

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.

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.