Origin Pacific Airways timetable 1998

The 1990s were perhaps the decade of peak domestic airline competition in recent New Zealand history, not only did Ansett New Zealand offer solid competition on the main trunk, supplemented on what was the main "tourist" route of Auckland-Rotorua-Christchurch-Mount Cook-Queenstown, but smaller airlines provided vigorous competition on a range of routes, notably Wellington-Nelson and Wellington-Blenheim.  Origin Pacific Airways would prove to be competitor not only on the trunk but on regional routes as well, 

Origin Pacific came out of Robert Inglis and Nicki Smith, who had previously founded Air Nelson in 1982, which they sold 50% to Air New Zealand in 1988 and the remainder in 1995, with the proviso that they could not start up another airline in New Zealand for two years. So in 1997, they started up an airline!

A base was set up in Nelson, with four BAe Jetstream 31s focused on the charter market, but in April 1998 scheduled services commenced, initially being contracted to operated the Associated Air Paraparaumu to Auckland service.

This timetable, covering July 1998 shows the airline operating direct services between Auckland and Wellington, Wellington and Christchurch, Christchurch and Palmerston North, and Nelson and Palmerston North. 

As is amply described in 3rd level blog, the airline's trunk services were not sustainable against the competition of Air NZ and Ansett NZ, so it shifted focus to regional services. Nelson, Palmerston North and later Napier, Hamilton and New Plymouth gained services, all competing with Air NZ. With the collapse of Ansett NZ and replacement with Qantas, it entered into codeshare agreement in 2001, with Origin Pacific helping to feed Qantas's mainline (as well as international) services.  Ultimately competition proved too tough, and with Qantas ending codesharing in 2004, the airline ceased operating scheduled services in 2006, and wound up later that year.  3rd Level Blog notes that the end of the Qantas codeshare saw a 40% drop in traffic (and Qantas ending its codeshare had a close alignment to the interest promoted by the Government of the day, especially Finance Minister Michael Cullen, in Qantas having a significant ownership stake in Air New Zealand). Quite simply, without that main trunk network and international feeder support, and support from customers in the regions, it was impossible for Origin Pacific to remain commercially viable. 

Originair was later set up by Robert Inglis, and remains a small scale airline based in Nelson operating scheduled services to Hamilton, Palmerston North and Wellington, and between Palmerston North and Hamilton.

Ansett NZ - Flying Air NZ First Class in 1985

As I have multiple random newspaper articles, here are three from 1988-1989, and a separate article on flying Air NZ in first class in 1990

The Dominion Editorial on 5 August 1989 bemoaning that Ansett New Zealand exists mainly to keep Air New Zealand "decent" on domestic routes, but not enough people fly on it to keep it viable. The editorial says Ansett is the "tops" just "we don't fly it enough". That of course, was ultimately the problem. It takes a humorous turn predicting what would happen if (!) Ansett NZ shut down... "Anyone producing a sandwich or a pork nibble would see it snatched away and thrust into a binliner by a painted brunhilde in a bouffant hairdo who has been kept on the payroll these last few years for this happy occasion"..."The overall mood would be Czechoslovakia 1968"... "Let's not blow it over Ansett" it ends, hoping enough people would fly on it.  In the end, they did not.

A related article from 1988 predicted Ansett NZ might fly international flights (which it never did), but it would need to be 65% New Zealand owned to be designated to do so. The article noted that it could only fly routes "left open" by Air New Zealand giving landing rights (in effect routes that do not have capacity limits all taken by Air New Zealand).

The small article notes Air NZ's upgrade of its Boeing 747-200, 767 and 737 fleets with "new contour seats" for business and first class, and new menus, wines and tableware, with Royal Doulton China for first and business class.

In 1985, Paul Elenio for the Evening Post flew on Air New Zealand in first class from Auckland to Los Angeles on one of its Boeing 747-200s (stopping at Honolulu as non-stop AKL-LAX was not feasible until the Boeing 747-400s arrived). He was to continue further to Seattle for the revealing of the airlines first Boeing 767s.  This article describes his experience of flying in the nose of the Boeing 747-200 in first class. It has no photos unfortunately, but does briefly describe the "first class lounge" at Auckland international and the "delights" provided, such as champagne, feet slip-ons, eye shades, stereo headset, toothbrush set and a "leather gift". 

The meals are described, with Hors d'oeuvres, caviar and the "five fine wines".  The large reclining seats did not go completely flat of course, but he did have a good sleep, although after six hours it was time to be fed again for the arrival at Honolulu.  A continental breakfast was served.  At Honolulu everyone clears customs and immigration so the Honolulu-Los Angeles segment is effectively domestic, but it sounds like passengers all picked up luggage and dropped it off again.   Then full breakfast is served including panfried fish, poached eggs or omelette.  Before landing at Los Angeles, more food is served with sandwiches, cheese and biscuits and petit fours with coffee.  It was also noted there was a movie, which of course was shown on a single big screen at the front (no personal entertainment screens in 1985). 

Certainly catering in 1985 in first class was a big deal, but compared to 2024 in business class, which almost universally includes a lie flat seat/bed, and personal entertainment system, not to mention non-stop flights between NZ and the US mainland, it's hard to miss too much of flying in first class in 1985 (not to mention the fact part of the cabin would have had smoking allowed).

Ansett NZ full page newspaper ads 1987

For just over a month in June-July 1987, Ansett New Zealand took out full page advertisements in The Evening Post and The Dominion following its launch of services. It highlighted the key points of difference in its service compared to Air New Zealand. The themes were:

• Purpose built new terminals at Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch
• Ansett Golden Wing club and lounges
• Breakfast for passengers in all classes
• Swift baggage delivery for collection
• Few queues for check-in
• Discount fares for off peak travel.

The construction of new terminals was critical to Ansett's success as it included airbridges, carpet (bear in mind Wellington's old domestic terminal didn't have this only months before) and was laid out for operations in the late 1980s.  Besides Wellington's antiquated terminal, Auckland's was dated from the 1960s, and so having a more pleasant, modern, clean, warm and weather-tight terminal was critical to differentiating Ansett from Air NZ.

Golden Wing club was a revolutionary change for domestic air travel in New Zealand, which of course spurred Air New Zealand to launch the Koru Club.  At the time Golden Wing was membership based, although First Class passengers could access lounges.  This was not an age of frequent flyer programmes, you either belonged to Golden Wing, flew First Class or were guested into the lounge by a Member with a Guest Pass.

At the time, membership was with a $50 joining fee and $150 per annum (with $90 for spouse membership as well). That's $520 in 2024 prices. This compare to $834 today for a year of Koru Club membership.  Of course there were only three New Zealand domestic lounges, but membership did provide access to Ansett Australia Golden Wing lounges at Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Canberra and the Gold Coast.  It also offered access to 76 lounges with British Airways, American Airlines and Cathay Pacific (curiously all airlines that formed OneWorld alliance some years later, which Qantas also joined, after merging with Ansett's main competitor in Australia - TAA/Australian Airlines).

 There was also "lifetime" membership for $1500 ($3905 in 2024 prices), which of course lost value in 2001 when the airline shut down.

34 advantages of Golden Wing were listed, they are highlighted on the images below. Notable is a complementary bar service after 4pm. This is fairly revolutionary as there was no on-board alcohol service allowed on domestic flights until some years later when the law was changed to enable licensing of domestic aircraft for alcohol consumption.

Hot meals at meal times (in economy class as well as first class) was a key product differentiator for Ansett New Zealand, with the idea that hurried business travellers could get breakfast on the flight being seen as an attraction. Air New Zealand responded with cold meals, so Ansett was keen to make the point that hot food was available (although of course Golden Wing lounges also would offer "refreshments"). 

Slow baggage retrieval was a regular concern of frequent flyers, so Ansett NZ sold the benefits of quick checked baggage delivery (facilitated by terminals designed for more efficient baggage handling). 

In the late 1980s, check in for flights was still a manual arrangement (few had mobile phones, and they were all analogue "phones" only, and the internet was a curious arrangement between universities), so checking in being swift was important.  Ansett sold the idea that its check-in procedures were quicker and it had more staff tending check-in desks (not noted was check-in being able to be carried out at Golden Wing lounges as well).

Finally, Ansett New Zealand was conscious of being seen as the "premium" domestic airline looking like it was more expensive than the competition. This ad promoted Good Buy fares which were at a 55% discount, so easily rivalling Air New Zealand at off-peak times. As can be seen it saw airfares of $74.70 between Wellington and Auckland, and $99 between Auckland and Christchurch (note inclusion of the Rotorua and Queenstown routes, operated by the former Newmans Air fleet).  These prices equate to around $194 and $257 today (2024).

1987: Air New Zealand and Ansett New Zealand go head to head

It's July 1987 and fully state-owned Air New Zealand is well aware that its long standing monopoly on the main trunk domestic routes is about to be challenged by Ansett New Zealand, which, at the time, was 50% owned by Ansett Australia.  Both airlines took out full-page ads in newspapers promoting the merits of their offerings. It's extraordinary to think that, quite possibly,  without Ansett New Zealand's entry into the domestic airline market, that it could have been many years (if at all) before domestic main trunk services had innovations such as airbridges and lounges.  As the ads are all A1 sized broadsheet, and my scanner is only A4, pardon me for cobbling these together.

Air New Zealand started with this ad focusing on its offering three - yes THREE - distinct classes of service:

- Pacific Class (Business Class) essentially consisting of Euro-business class with a blocked middle seat, Koru Club access, priority boarding and luggage, and better food and drink service.

- Economy Class (which now includes cold meals at meal times with light snacks at other times)

- City Saver (high density equipped aircraft with no on board catering, but all seats are fully flexible tickets for business travellers).

Air New Zealand introduced Pacific Class as a foil against Ansett New Zealand offering First Class on domestic services. As a quick conversion it blanked out the middle seats, inserted a small table in the middle and covered the window and aisle seats with sheepskin. It offered two-course meals at meal times, and high quality snacks in-between. At this point the licensing laws meant that on-board alcoholic drinks were not yet permitted. Priority check-in, Koru Club access (albeit they only existed in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch at the time) were also part of the service. It was sold as $22 more than full economy fares, but then most passengers didn't pay full economy fare.  This was seen as attracting higher income fliers who wanted comfort and privacy, but was also a placeholder to show it also had a premium product (and indeed it HAD offered such a service on its limited Boeing 767 and 747 services on certain days of the week, for some years).

Air New Zealand ad July 1987 - domestic business class - Pacific Class

At the other end of the market, Air New Zealand offered a no-frills, but fully-flexible service with a separate fleet of Boeing 737-200s set up as one-class, high-density, offering flat flexible fares and no-frills service. The hope was that business travellers would find this appealing, essentially being able to change tickets and fly whenever they wanted.  However, these were not the cheapest fares, and often standard economy (with some frills) could be cheaper on some routes and times, than City Saver. Ultimately, this failed in part because of the complexity and cost of having two different fleets of aircraft.

Before Ansett New Zealand, Air New Zealand had International First Class Lounges for international premium passengers, but not domestic. Koru Club was launched directly in response to Ansett NZ launching its Golden Wing lounges (reflecting the same in Australia).  It was entirely membership based at the time, although Pacific (Business) Class passengers could access it.  The focus was on refreshments, drinks, comfort, but also TVs, teletext news (!). Curiously it also offered access to Australian Airlines lounges (previously TAA, later to merge with Qantas) for domestic travel in Australia.  Particularly curious when later Air New Zealand would be 50% owned by Ansett.

Part of Air NZ's strategy was to uplift its core product - economy class (on the main trunk only). Seats got refreshed, but the main element was to offer cold meals at meal time, and snacks at other times.  By selling this as the "middle" class between Pacific Class and City Saver, the airline was seeking to cover the market

Ansett New Zealand, highlighting the importance of newspaper advertising in 1987, spent a fortune to produce a six page feature ad in major newspapers (newspapers today could only dream of this type of advertising, and this was broadsheet format).  The first page being "From today there's a new star in our skies" and the second and third being a stylised Boeing 737-100.

The core of Ansett NZ's push to attract passengers was an emphasis on quality of service, as it sought to target frequent flyers, particularly business travellers.  The key selling points for Ansett were:

• Hot meals at meal times in economy class
• Purpose built new terminals, especially relevant in Wellington (which until 2000 still had the converted 1920s aircraft factory as the domestic terminal), to operate more efficiently and with fewer crowds.
• Airbridges at airports (Given boarding on Air NZ until literally months before was done as steps to the aircraft, which in July meant a lot of exposure to winter weather).
• Quick check-in and baggage retrieval
• Airport lounges - Ansett's Golden Wing lounge concept used in Australia was brought to NZ, available on a membership basis and to passengers in...
• First class. With larger seats, more legroom, dedicated cabin crew, full three-course meals at meal times, storage for coats and larger carry-on baggage.

Also noted is the cutaway was... the availability of newspapers and magazines, activities for children, plenty of overhead locker space.  Ansett NZ was seeking (and arguably succeeded) in being the "premium" domestic airline.

The final page was the schedule. As this ad was in the Dominion, it was a schedule focused on Wellington.   It displayed a schedule of nine flights a weekday (six on Saturdays and Sunday) each way between Wellington and Auckland, and seven flights a weekday (six on Saturdays and Sunday) between Wellington and Christchurch.  By today's (2024) standards, this is far in excess of what Jetstar offers on either route. This was a significant effort to rival Air NZ.

This began a period of 14 years of competition between the two airlines, before the Air NZ ill-fated takeover of Ansett Australia saw the airline rebrand as Qantas New Zealand, before folding.