With sincere thanks to Paul Sheehan's expansive historical records contained in his "The Aircraft of Air New Zealand and affiliates since 1940" published by Transpress in 2003
Widebody "Twins"
September 1985 saw the arrival of the first new Boeing 767-219ER, ZK-NBA MSN 23326 and this was followed in March 1986 by ZK-NBB MSN 23327 and September 1986 by ZK-NBC MSN 23328. ZK-NBA was transferred in June 1997 into Ansett Australia's fleet as VH-RMC. However, this particular aircraft remained only a year with Ansett and was then leased out to Swiss World Airlines as HB-IIX. Swiss World soon developed financial problems and in December 1998 the aircraft was reclaimed by Air New Zealand. It was parked at Melbourne for a couple of months before being returned to Air New Zealand's livery and in March 1999 it took up operation of the airline's new second daily return service between Auckland and Melbourne. On 27 October 1987, ZK-NBD MSN 23058 was obtained from Varig, Brazil (ex PP-VNM) and this aircraft, a model 767-205, was disposed of on 05 July 1990 to become DQ-FJA with Air Pacific. For the first month or two of service ZK-NBD operated in its Varig colours with Air New Zealand titles.
The fifth 767 to join the fleet arrived new from Boeing and was registered ZK-NBE MSN 24150 and was leased from ILFC. This was terminated in May 1993 and the aircraft exported to Transbrasil as PT-TAG.
At the end of 1989 two 767-209's were obtained from China Airlines of Taiwan and became ZK-NBF MSN 22681 (ex B-1836 dubbed "Ping") and ZK-NBH MSN 22682 (ex B-1838 dubbed "Pong"). These two models flew with the airine until mid 1995 when their leases expired and both departed to Air Canada as C-FVNM and C-FUCL. In 1990 two 767-204's were added from Brittania Airways with ZK-NBI MSN 23072 (ex G-BLKV) and ZK-NBJ MSN 23250 (ex G-BLKW) entering the fleet.
From 01 June 1992 until 01 December 1992 ZK-NBI was leased out to Air Aruba and for the northern summers of 1992, 1993 and 1994 ZK-NBJ was leased to LOT of Poland. In mid 1997 ZK-NBI departed to Air Europa, Palma de Mallorca, Spain as EC-GOJ at the end of its lease and ZK-NBJ returned to Britannia in the UK on a six month lease from May 1997. ZK-NBJ returned to the fold where it remained until November 2002 and was subsequently withdrawn from use and later became a rescue fire service training aid at Auckland Airport.
For the summer season 1995/96 Air New Zealand leased Boeing 767-204ER G-BRIG (MSN 24757) from Brittania Airways and a 767-35D(ER) SP-LPA (MSN 24865) from LOT of Poland to cover extra services flown over this period. Both aircraft remained in their respective registration markings and returned to their owners at the end of the summer rush. SP-LPA returned on to Air New Zealand for the summer seasons of 1999-2000.
The Boeing 767 proved to be a great success and it was a logical step for the airline to include the stretched 300 series into its fleet. ZK-NCE MSN 24875 was the first to arrive on 14 June 1991 followed by ZK-NCF MSN 24876 on 14 February 1992. The third 300 delivered was ZK-NCG MSN 26912 on 11 August 1993 followed by ZK-NCH MSN 26264 on 10 October 1994, ZK-NCI MSN 26913 on 08 November 1994, ZK-NCJ MSN 26915 on 21 April 1995, ZK-NCK MSN 26971 on 23 June 1997, ZK-NCL MSN 28745 on 29 October 1997, ZK-NCN MSN 29388 in April 2000 and ZK-NCO MSN 30586 on 01 September 2000.
The only other 767-300 in the fleet was 767-35H(ER) ZK-NCM MSN 26389 which belonged to Itochu Aerospace Finance. It was originally delivered new to China Southern Airlines in October 1992 as N800CZ and came to Air New Zealand in April 1996. When ZK-NCN was delivered in April 2000 the lease on ZK-NCM was terminated and it was subsequently leased by the owners to Canadian Airlines International as C-GGBJ. It is of interest here to note that this aircraft was the first in Air New Zealand's fleet to be completed in the Pacific Wave livery.
For the Northern summer of 1998 ZK-NCM was leased out to Airtours International together with Boeing 747-219 ZK-NZZ.
In October 2001 Air New Zealand planned to lease in from ILFC its 13th Boeing 767-300 with ZK-NCP MSN 28206, a series 3Q8ER. This aircraft which first flew in March 1998 as N601LF was first leased to Transaero Airlines from March 1998 until February 1999 and then to LAPA as LV-ZPL from June 1999 until April 2001. However, with the downturn in traffic as a result of the September 11 attacks this planned lease never went ahead.
The Boeing 767-200 fleet initially wore Maori names:
ZK-NBA Aotearoa V - Land of the Long White Cloud
ZK-NBB Arahina - Being Guided
ZK-NBC Atarau - Moonlight
ZK-NBD Aparima - In Company of Five
ZK-NBE Aranui - Main Pathway
ZK-NBF Ararangi - Pathway in the Heavens
ZK-NBH Awatere - Swift Flowing River
ZK-NBI Arawhata - A Way Up
ZK-NBJ Awarua - Two Rivers
From what we can remember, the 767 has operated to the following airports (obviously a large number are Japanese domestic airports visited during charter operations over the years):
Adelaide, Akita, Alice Springs, Aomori, Apia, Auckland, Avalon, Bangkok, Brisbane, Brunei, Cairns, Canberra, Chitose, Christchurch, Darwin, Denpasar/Bali, Dunedin, Fukuoka, Fukushima, Gold Coast, Guam, Hakodate, Hamilton, Hanamaki, Hiroshima, Hobart, Ho Chi Minh, Honiara, Hong Kong, Honolulu, Izumo, Kagoshima, Kansai, Kobe, Kochi, Komatsu, Kuala Lumpur, Kumamoto, Launceston, Los Angeles, Matsuyama, Melbourne, Miyazaki, Nadi, Nagoya, Narita, Newcastle, Niigata, Noumea, Obihiro, Oita, Okayama, Okinawa, Papeete, Perth, Port Moresby, Rarotonga, Richmond/Sydney, Rockhampton, San Diego, Sapporo, Sendai, Seoul, Shanghai/Pudong, Shizuoka, Shonai, Singapore, Sydney, Taipei, Takamatsu, Tokushima, Tonga, Tottori, Townsville, Toyama, Ube,
Wellington, Yamagata and Yonago.
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| While hunting through some images I came across this blast from the past - all three types now relegated to the history books for Air New Zealand. |
