Odds and ends

Thanks to Dobbyn, we have a photo of Hawker 800XP VH-OVE preparing to depart Rotorua 26 March for Queenstown.

Ykato was on hand to catch the arrival of visiting Gulfstream 550 B-KGP as it landed Hamilton 26 March from Hong Kong and Auckland.  Its visit was brief and the aircraft departed lunch time 27 March back to Auckland and onto Hong Kong.  And arriving at Auckland around the same time from Hong Kong was Gulfstream 550 B-KID.

Gulfstream 550 B-KGP

Hong Kong based Metrojet Gulfstream 550 B-KGP visited Auckland 26 March to clear formalities on its way from Hong Kong to Hamilton.  The 550 first visit NZ December 2011 and again in December 2012.

Hawker 800XP VH-OVE - first NZ visit?

Making its first known visit to NZ this week is Shortstop Jet Charter's Hawker 800XP VH-OVE.  The aircraft arrived at Rotorua on the afternoon of 25 March from its Melbourne/Essendon base and flew onto Queenstown 26 March.

Brunei Royal Flight Boeing 767 V8-MHB

HM The Sultans Flight Boeing 767-27GEREM V8-MHB arrived at Wellington just on 0800 25 March direct from its Bandar Seri Begawan (Brunei) base.

The corporate configured airliner, in the colours of the national airline Royal Brunei, is carrying the country's leader, His Majesty Hassanal Bolkiah, on a state visit to New Zealand. 

The last visit by V8-MHB to New Zealand was during March 2003 and notes made on its visit back then make for interesting reading:

Royal Brunei Boeing 767-27GER V8-MHB (25537) enroute from Brunei to Wellington diverted to Palmerston North.  This signalled the first visit of such a type to Palmerston North.  Stairs were hastily sought from Ohakea which was unable to accept the jet due to major runway reconstruction.  The Crown Prince of Brunei and his entourage continued to Wellington by motorcade however the weather cleared enough for the aircraft to position south later.  The 767 made yet another NZ first by being the first 767 to visit Dunedin, arriving from Wellington 12 Mar before continuing to Auckland, however this trip was not without problems as Auckland closed after the Singapore Airlines 747 9V-SMT had a tail strike on departure from Auckland so V8-MHB diverted to Whenuapai, yet another first!  The aircraft flew across to Auckland once the runway re-opened and it departed for Sydney 13 Mar. 

Gulfstream G300 N388AJ

Hong Kong based Asia Jet's Gulfstream G300 N388AJ arrived into Auckland mid afternoon 24 March from Manila and Cairns.
http://www.asiajet.com/en/asia_jet_fleet/

Another Retirement

20 March 2013 signaled the end of the line for Boeing 737-3K2 ZK-NGK as it flew the final scheduled passenger service for Air New Zealand concluding a 12 1/2 year stint with the national carrier.

As PH-TSX the 737 classic initially saw service with Air NZ subsidiary Freedom Air on a short-term lease in the summer of 1999 with it arriving at Christchurch from Brisbane on 12 February still wearing the colours of operator Transavia.  It was to wear small Freedom Air titles for the few weeks it was in service and these were removed before its departure from Hamilton on 30 March for Apia on its return to Amsterdam.

The jet was to return to NZ on 06 November 2000 arriving at Christchurch from Cairns and Brisbane still wearing its PH markings and was registered to Air NZ three days later.  it was to then be inducted for a cabin refit and heavy maintenance before being test flown on 18 December and that same day it made its first revenue flight for the airline as ANZ468 from Christchurch to Wellington.

Its final flight on 20 March was ANZ535 from Auckland to Christchurch and on its arrival the jet had accumulated over 47000 hours of flying amassed over just under 39300 cycles.

Busy at the Provincials

It was a busy day at provincial airports 21 March with local and visiting jets coming and going.

Hastings based Citation Mustang ZK-LCA made an early departure from its home town for Auckland and then headed off to Westport and later onto Woodbourne. By late afternoon the Mustang had flown from Woodbourne to Tauranga. 

Pacific Jets Citationjet CJ3+ ZK-TBM was another earlier riser and it flew from Christchurch to Auckland arriving around sunrise before setting off to Nelson and Queenstown.

Pacific Jets Citationjet CJ4 ZK-PGA was also out and about with a trip from Auckland to Wellington and back.

Airwork Flight Operations Westwind II ZK-RML had flown from Auckland to Coolangatta on the 20th and today flew from there to Christchurch, Timaru and back to Auckland as "Airwork 1".

Execujet's Challenger 604 VH-VSZ spent a few hours at New Plymouth arriving from and returning to Sydney.

And Falcon 2000 VH-CRW was resting at Napier having arrived from Wellington 19 March while Embraer Legacy VH-VLT was at Auckland replacing Gulfstream 450 VH-MBP on the ramp with it having departed for Essendon the previous day.

Gulfstream 5 N808JG

Jet Greene LLC Gulfstream 5 N808JG touched down at Auckland late 19 March from Melbourne where it had arrived on the 16th from Singapore.

Hawaiian Air - Looking Back....

Like many, we had forgotten the previous New Zealand foray undertaken by Hawaiian Airlines in the late 1980's through to the early 1990's. 

With thanks to Ewan Smith for prompting us of this fact and the fantastic and extensive resources of Mark Cranston we can bring you this brilliant overview of this period. 

Text with thanks to Mark:

Auckland/New Zealand, Rarotonga/Cook Islands, and Nuku'Alofa/Tonga were first serviced by HAWAIIAN AIRLINES DC8-62 and DC8-63 .... "as charters" .... during December 1984 and January 1985.

HAWAIIAN AIRLINES then commenced a weekly "scheduled services" from Honolulu/Hawaii to Auckland/New Zealand via Pago Pago/American Samoa from January 1988 .... using DC8-62 aircraft .... which were occasionally substituted with their DC8-63 whenever the DC8-62's weren't available. HAWAIIAN AIRLINES discontinued this service from July 1989.

AIR RAROTONGA then commenced a weekly Honolulu/Hawaii, Apia/Western Samoa, Pago Pago/American Samoa, Auckland/New Zealand, Rarotonga/Cook islands, Honolulu/Hawaii service from September 1989 .... using HAWAIIAN AIRLINES DC8-62 and -63 aircraft .... as well as the L1011 TRISTAR whenever the DC8's weren't available. A number of problems occurred during this operation though .... in that the Apia/Pago Pago sector was just 20 minutes air time (hardly an economic route for a PAX configured DC8) .... and .... during this time both the DC8-63 and L1011 TRISTAR could only be sold up to "DC8-62 PAX capacity" due to aviation/market regulations which existed at the time and further impaired profitability .... especially when the DC8's were replaced by L1011's on this route and with no capacity change .... and even after both Apia, and Pago Pago had both been dropped from the route during early 1990 and then replaced with the DC8-62 once again.

DC8-62H N8973U operated the last HAWAIIAN AIRLINES/AIR RAROTONGA service to/from Auckland/New Zealand during July 1990.

The arrival of Hawaiian Airlines was celebrated by the Auckland city fathers by planting a hibiscus tree/bush outside the Jean Batten International Terminal and the ceremony was attended by Miss Hawaii 1987 whom was a celebrity passenger onboard the inaugural flight.  Sadly the tree was later bulldozed sometime in the early 1990's to allow expansion of the international terminal.

Douglas DC8 at Rarotonga, E Smith photo

The first Hawaiian Airlines DC8 Super 62H to Auckland, N8970U 18 January 1988. 

The first Hawaiian Airlines DC8 Super 63 service to Auckland,  N4934Z 25 March 1988. 

The first Hawaiian Airlines L1011 Tristar service to Auckland, N763BE 28 December 1989

The first Hawaiian Airlines/Air Rarotonga DC8-63 service to Auckland, N4934Z 07 December 1988. 

The first Hawaiian Airlines/Air Rarotonga DC8-62H service to Auckland, N8969U October 1988. 

Fiji Airways (Air Pacific) Airbus A330 DQ-FJT

Air Pacific, soon to be formerly rebranded Fiji Airways, took delivery of their first of three Airbus A330-200 DQ-FJT on the morning of 19 March when the aircraft concluded its delivery flight from Toulouse via a night stop at Hong Kong and a flyby of certain locations around Fiji using the callsign FJI2330. 

http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=228306

DQ-FJT is scheduled to enter service on 02 April with its first port of call being Auckland.

Arriving at Toulouse earlier this month still wearing its Airbus test registration. 

Australian visitors

The run of Northern Hemisphere business jet visitors seems to have come to an end with just Falcon 900 N311JA remaining in NZ and hangared at Auckland since its arrival on 12 February.

However there have been a few Australian visitors.

Challenger 604 VH-VSZ made a brief appearance at Queenstown on the evening of 15 March arriving from Sydney and departing for Essendon.

Falcon 2000 VH-CRW arrived at Wellington 17 March from Brisbane and Embraer Legacy VH-VLT arrived at Wellington 18 March from Essendon.

Gulfstream 450 VH-MBP crossed the Tasman from Essendon to Christchurch late morning 18 March and then flew onto Auckland that same afternoon.

Australian Air Express 737 freighter (first visit)

Qantas operated Australian Air Express Boeing 737-376 (SF) freighter VH-XMO made its first visit to NZ when it carried a consignment of stage equipment from Melbourne to Auckland.  The 737 was on the ground for a few hours before departing back to Melbourne. 

This particular airframe is no stranger to NZ skies having once operated on behalf Qantas under their Jetconnect banner as ZK-JNH between July 2003 and April 2006 having earlier flown with Qantas Mainline as VH-TAW.  The jet ferried from Christchurch to Avalon on 21 April 2006 as QFA6172 for conversion to a freighter and was registered VH-XMO on 26 April.  It was rolled out at Avalon in Australian Air Express colours in October 2006.

The last known visit by an Australian Air Express freighter to NZ was in December 2006 with Boeing 727-200 freighter VH-VLI visited Wellington on on the 4th, arriving from and returning to Melbourne having delivered musical equipment including a grand piano for an Elton John concert.
Incidentally, the piano was flown out of NZ onboard Asian Express Airlines Boeing 727-200 freighter VH-DHE from RNZAF based Ohakea in the early hours of 07 December at the conclusion of the Wellington concert.  And the man himself, Elton John, flew in and out of Wellington on 06 December using Jetclub AG Gulfstream 5 HB-IIS.

VH-VLI at Wellington on 04 December 2006. 

Qantas Widebody Visitor

Qantas Airbus A330-300 VH-QPH visited Auckland on the afternoon of 15 March operating a charter flight on behalf of LAN.  The aircraft arrived from and returned to Sydney using the flight numbers QF60 and  61 respectively.

File photo - an A330-300 arriving at Wellington in 2011

Regular exits the region

What was once a reasonably regular visitor to New Zealand has departed from Australia on export to Thailand.

Beechjet 400A VH-IPG, c/n RK-222, has been a frequent Trans Tasman flier over the years and on 02 March it departed from Bankstown for Mount Isa and Darwin before flying onwards to Angkasa the next day.  It was then cancelled from the VH register on arrival at Don Mueang and has since become HS-EMM.

The last visit to NZ by VH-IPG was on 14 August 2012 when it flew from Sydney to Auckland and back.

File photo

E Komo Mai Hawaiian Airlines

  

 Welcome to New Zealand Hawaiian Airlines!  

Today marked the first scheduled passenger service to Auckland for Honolulu based Hawaiian Airlines and the only US based carrier to service New Zealand since United Airlines withdrew from Auckland in 2003. 

During July 2012 Hawaiian Airlines announced their intentions to commence a thrice weekly service between the two cities utilising Boeing 767-300 aircraft but this was quickly changed to the larger Airbus A330-200 with the airline citing higher than anticipated demand for seats.  And even before starting service the airline has indicated that they will introduce a fourth weekly flight from September.  

The colours of Hawaiian Airlines are no stranger to Auckland Airport with the airline signing an agreement in winter 2007 for Air New Zealand to conduct maintenance on their 15 Boeing 767-300's which has seen an almost constant presence of the distinctive livery at the Air NZ jet base.

The arrival this evening of Airbus A330-200 N381HA marks the only time the aircraft will be seen in daylight as subsequent arrivals will be scheduled for 2055 departing at 2355. 

Above photos thanks to Noel

Above shots thanks to Andrew

Airbus MRTT departs for home

The Royal Australian Air Force Airbus A330-MRTT (KC30A) A39-002 departed Auckland just after 0900 14 March and headed for Christchurch where it spent a short time on the ground without actually parking on the ramp and then departed for Hobart and Amberley.

Above, departing Auckland
Below, arriving and departing at Christchurch

Couple more shots of MRTT plus video

The Royal Australian Air Force Airbus A330-MRTT (KC30A) A39-002 remained static at Auckland 13 March and is expected to depart mid morning 14 March.

Follow this link for a YouTube video of the A330 at Avalon this year : Avalon 2013

And a couple of additional photos from 12 March: