Ansett New Zealand


Ansett New Zealand was an airline serving the New Zealand domestic market between 1986 and 2001. It was a subsidiary of Ansett Australia. In order to comply with regulatory requirements relating to the acquisition of Ansett Transit Industries by Air New Zealand, Ansett New Zealand was sold to News Corporation and later rebranded as Tasman Pacific Airlines in 2000, operating as a Qantas franchise under the Qantas New Zealand brand. It went into receivership and subsequently liquidation in 2001.

History

Ansett New Zealand was the result of Ansett Australia's desire to expand into the New Zealand market, enabled by the relaxation of regulation in the aviation sector by the fourth Labour government. Ansett Transport Industries formed a partnership with two New Zealand companies, Brierley Investments and Newmans Coach Lines, the latter being a tourism company which owned the unprofitable Newmans Air. Newmans Air formed the basis for a new expanded airline, the company being Bilmans Management Ltd, operating as Ansett New Zealand. Half its shares were owned by Ansett, with Brierley holding 27.5% and Newmans holding 22.5%. Subsequently, regulations were relaxed still further, and Ansett took full ownership in April 1988.
Operations started on 25 July 1987 with three Boeing 737-100 aircraft between Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. The ex Newmans Air de Havilland Canada Dash 7s were used on tourist routes between Auckland, Rotorua, Christchurch, Mount Cook and Queenstown. The old and noisy Boeing 737 aircraft were replaced with new and quieter British Aerospace 146s known as "Whisper Jets". Routes were extended to Dunedin and Invercargill. Also the old Dash-7s were replaced with the much more fuel efficient Bombardier Dash 8s. By the year 2000 the fleet had risen to eight BAE-146s and five Dash-8s.
During the early 1990s, Ansett New Zealand created television advertisements emphasising the airline's customer service. One advert featured a businessman who accidentally brought his cat Fluffy to the airport; the Ansett gate agent subsequently takes Fluffy off the businessman's hands and arranges for the cat to be taken home. The advert was voted the best by public vote in the 1992 Fair Go Ad Awards.
In 1996, Air New Zealand made a bid to purchase half of Ansett Transport Industries, after an open skies agreement for the former to fly within Australia was abruptly withdrawn. Anti-monopoly regulators did not want Air New Zealand to gain control of Ansett's operations in New Zealand, however, and it was therefore required that the two Ansett airlines would be separated. Ansett would be owned by Air New Zealand and News Corporation, while Ansett New Zealand would be owned by News Corporation exclusively.
In June 2000, News Corporation sold Ansett New Zealand to Tasman Pacific Airlines that was owned by a group of investors including RM Williams. Shortly afterwards, the company became a franchise of Qantas, operating under the Qantas New Zealand brand. The following year, however, the airline went into liquidation. Qantas's later involvement in the New Zealand domestic market was unrelated and not through a franchise agreement.

Fleet

Destinations

Prior to the suspension of domestic passenger services, the airline operated services to the following scheduled destinations:
DestinationCountryIATAICAOAirportStartEndStatus
AucklandNew ZealandAKLNZAAAuckland Airport
BlenheimNew ZealandBHENZWBWoodbourne Airport
ChristchurchNew ZealandCHCNZCHChristchurch Airport
DunedinNew ZealandDUDNZDNDunedin Airport
HamiltonNew ZealandHLZNZHNHamilton Airport
InvercargillNew ZealandIVCNZNVInvercargill Airport
Milford SoundNew ZealandMFNNZMFMilford Sound Airport
NelsonNew ZealandNSNNZNSNelson Airport
Palmerston NorthNew ZealandPMRNZPMPalmerston North Airport
QueenstownNew ZealandZQNNZQNQueenstown Airport
RotoruaNew ZealandROTNZRORotorua Airport
Te AnauNew ZealandTEUNZMOTe Anau Airport
WhakatāneNew ZealandWHKNZWKWhakatāne Airport
WhangāreiNew ZealandWRENZWRWhangarei Airport
WellingtonNew ZealandWLGNZWNWellington Airport

Accidents