Nostalgia Time - Air New Zealand B747-200s

Apologies if we've posted this YouTube link before, but a timely repost if we have!  A great video presentation by AirsideTV.

Air New Zealand Boeing 767-300 to Dunedin!!

Dunedin International Airport hosted for the first time, on 13 September,  an Air New Zealand Boeing 767-300, namely ZK-NCK. A charter group had utilised the aircraft to fly on other domestic sectors and its positioning meant it was ideally suited to provide the group with a flight from Dunedin to Wellington.

http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/315831/jet-may-be-largest-dunedin-airport

It had early in the morning flown from Auckland to Wellington, arriving shortly after the lifting of curfew, and then positioned south to Dunedin before returning to Wellington.

This is the first -300 series 767 to visit Dunedin, and only the second of its type to drop into the airport.  

The first (and only other visit) by a Boeing 767 took place on 12 March 2003 when Amedo Corporation Sdn Bhd -27GER V8-MHB arrived from Wellington.  The corporate configured jet was carrying the Crown Prince of Brunei and his entourage to NZ.  It had also made first of type visits to Palmerston North and Whenuapai, albeit unplanned!  It flew from Bandar Seri Begawan (Brunei) to Wellington 10 March but diverted due to weather to Palmerston North before continuing onto Wellington once conditions improved.  Then to Dunedin, as mentioned, on 12 March before heading north to Auckland the same day however it was diverted to Whenuapai as a result of Auckland's runway being obstructed!).  It eventually reached Auckland later on the 12th before departing to Brisbane and the Gold Coast 13 March.

A very big thanks to those providing images from the 767's visit to Dunedin and Wellington!

Boeing 747-419 ZK-NBV

As mentioned over the last couple of days, Air New Zealand has operated its last commercial Boeing 747 flight with -419 ZK-NBV "Christchurch" flying its last service for the airline arriving at Auckland from San Francisco 12 September as NZ7.

ZK-NBV, MSN 26910, first flown 09 October 198, was delivered brand new to Air New Zealand on

02 November 1998 when the jet arrived at Auckland direct from Paine Field as NZ7400. 

The Jumbo was chosen to wear one of the Lord of the Rings movie decals in in 2003 as seen below.

Configured with 46 business class, 39 premium economy and 294 economy seats, ZK-NBV operated a number of charter services throughout its career.  In July 2009 it was utilised to carry a group from NZ and Australia to Barcelona and back and in October 2010 it flew a number of charter flights on behalf of the Singaporean Defence Force flying between Singapore and Rockhampton.  

On 26 April 2011 she was positioned to Christchurch from Auckland as NZ6003 for a period of storage before returning to Auckland on 18 May 2011.  The following month it was deployed on a charter operation with Air Tahiti Nui and it flew as TN182 from Auckland to Papeete on 27 June.  It went onto operate their flights between Tahiti and Los Angeles until returning to Auckland 03 July.   Carrying the name "Christchurch", it was utilised to operate a one off Christchurch to Brisbane service on 09 July 2011 as NZ207 and returned to Christchurch the following day as NZ202 carrying supporters for the local Crusaders team playing against the Queensland Reds for the final of the Rugby Super Fifteen game.

On 14 July 2011 she flew another charter from Auckland to Brisbane and onto Paris/Charles de Gaulle via Hong Kong returning over the reverse route 19 July.  Then on 07 August the same year ZK-NBV, along with ZK-NBW, flew a large charter group from Auckland direct to Las Vegas returning direct to Auckland on 13 August.  The same day she departed for Narita as NZ99 before positioning to Xiamen, China for maintenance and returned to Auckland direct from Xiamen on 22 September. 

In July 2013 ZK-NBV flew a charter group from Auckland to Cancun, Mexico departing Auckland on the 12th and returning to Auckland direct from Cancun on the 16th.   The -400 was again employed on Singaporean Defence Force duties in October flying between Rockhampton and Singapore.  

And what we suspect was her last "odd ball" flying activity was a charter to NZ Post on 09 April 2014 when ZK-NBV flew from Auckland to Christchurch and back during the middle of the night hauling freight.

To mark the end of the 33 years of 747 flight operations Air New Zealand will be holding staff open days at their Auckland Jetbase, and it is understood ZK-NBV will be head overseas for maintenance and re-delivery to continue its passenger flying career which is great news.

Dreamliner stretches its legs

Air New Zealand's Boeing 787-9 ZK-NZE has stretched its legs today introducing the type on the daily flight NZ175 from Auckland to Perth.

ZK-NZE entered service 25 July flying a once daily return flight form Auckland to Sydney and back, and over the last two weekends the tempo picked up with it making two round trips between the two cities.

The introduction of the Dash 9 to the Auckland-Perth run is a month earlier than the airline had originally indicated earlier this year with 15 October being the initial planned start date.

Subsequent 787 deliveries will see the type operate to Shanghai and Narita by years end.

Fleet Refresh Continues

The Air New Zealand re-livery program is moving at pace with Airbus A320 ZK-OJA and ATR72-500 ZK-MCF rolling out of the Christchurch paint shop in recent days.

ZK-OJA flew its first sectors in its new scheme 08 September operating NZ801 from Christchurch to Brisbane.

ZK-MCF has been on a C check visit at Christchurch and it flew for the first time in its new scheme 12 September as NZ5057 to Dunedin.

Final Curtain Call

Its the end of an era for Air New Zealand this morning with its final commercial flight by a four engined airliner touching down at Auckland.  The arrival of Boeing 747-419 ZK-NBV from San Francisco as NZ7 signaled the final curtain call on a long history of four engine jet operations by the airline and with it the end of Boeing 747-400 service.

Air New Zealand's history of four engine jet operations date back to 23 September 1963 when a contract was signed between the forerunner to Air New Zealand,  Tasman Empire Airlines (TEAL) and the  Douglas Aircraft Corporation for the purchase of three Douglas DC8 series 52 jets.
On 15 February 1965 the first Douglas DC8, ZK-NZA, made its maiden flight from Long Beach, California. 20 July 1965 saw the arrival of ZK-NZA at Auckland after a delivery flight direct from Long Beach, a distance of some 6510 miles taking just 13 hours and 32 minutes.  Its arrival at Auckland coincided with the open of Air New Zealand's Jetbase with the airline having undergone a name change from TEAL to Air NZ on the 1st of April.
The first commercial service by the DC8 was conducted on 3 October 1965 with a trip from Christchurch to Sydney.
http://mrcaviation.blogspot.co.nz/2014/06/one-of-kind.html

Air New Zealand's history with the Boeing 747 goes back to an order placed with the Seattle manufacturer for five -200B series Jumbos on 21 April 1980.  Interestingly it was a week later when the NZ Government, then a key player in the operation of the airline, announced the Rolls-Royce RB211 engines would be purchased to power the 747 fleet.   The contract was signed confirming the order on 12 June 1980 with a list price for the five aircraft being approximately $335 million.
27 May 1981 was the date for the acceptance ceremony at Seattle for the airline's first Jumbo, ZK-NZV "Aotea".  The classic Jumbo then went onto arrive at Auckland two days later under the command of Captain Barney Wyatt.    The second "hog", ZK-NZW "Tainui" was delivered to Auckland 10 June 1981 after a non stop flight from Paine Field commanded by Lindsay Caudwell.

11 June 1981 was a big day for the airline when ZK-NZV flew its first commercial flight flying from Auckland to Sydney and back and the type was rolled into the schedule flying from Auckland to Melbourne on 12 June, Brisbane 14 June and then from Christchurch to Sydney 15 June.  20 June saw it undertake its first long haul flight with a scheduled run from Auckland to Singapore.
The third 747-219B, ZK-NZX "Takitimu" arrived at Auckland on 22 June, again flown by Captain Barney Wyatt.
11 July 1981 the type was introduced on the Auckland-Honolulu-Los Angeles run and four days later on the Auckland-Nadi-Los Angeles route.
25/26 August 1982 and Air NZ introduced the type on their Auckland-Papeete-Los Angeles-London/Gatwick route.
From 01 April 1984 the -200's were flying non stop services between Auckland and Los Angeles then onto London.
The Jumbos went onto become regular sights across the Air NZ international network including the types first visit to Apia, Western Samoa, on 11 December 1985 to celebrate the airport's runway upgrade.

The introduction of the -400 series was somewhat protracted, see an earlier post here.

Ultimately, the first Air NZ Boeing 747-400 commercial service was not flown until 6 November 1990 when ZK-NBT (featured in the accompanying video) flew from Auckland to Sydney.

Air New Zealand has operated the following Boeing 747's:
ZK-NZV 22722 - became G-VZZZ
ZK-NZW 22723 - became G-VBEE
ZK-NZX  22724 - became G-VSSS
ZK-NZY 22725 - became G-VPUF
ZK-NZZ 22791 - became G-VIBE
ZK-TGA 21782 - short term lease in the mid 90's
N603FF 19746 - a 100 series leased for a very short time in Sept 1989.
ZK-NBS 24386 - Scrapped
ZK-NBT 24855 - Scrapped
ZK-NBU 25605 - Scrapped
ZK-NBW 29375 - Now flying as a freighter with Asiana Airlines as HL7620
ZK-SUH 24896 - Stored Victorville, to be scrapped
ZK-SUI 24957 - Now flying with Air Atlanta Iceland as TF-AMX on lease to Saudi Arabian Airlines
ZK-SUJ 27602 - Now flying with Southern Air Transport as a freighter registered N469AC
ZK-NBV 26910 - Finished but has a passenger carrying future..................

The Air New Zealand Boeing 747 fleet has had a varied career with the airline stretching itself across the globe.

747's over the last 33 years have been spotted across the world on charter flight activities.  Harking back this is the list (in no particular order):
Barcelona, Cape Town, Paris, Kona, Las Vegas, Singapore, Nuremberg, Minhad, Sharjah, Cancun, Macau, Oxford, Darwin, Rockhampton and Oshkosh.

The 747-200 series was employed on Hajj charter operations a few moons ago and visited Jakarta, Medan, Padang, Surabaya and of course Mecca.

During its career, the 747 has also flown special flights or diverted to the following:
Wellington, Ohakea, Montreal, Keflavik, Guam, Xiamen, Goose Bay, Shannon, Minneapolis-St Paul, Manchester, Prestwick, Ontario, CA, Winnipeg, Cologne and Gander.

As the airline adapted its schedules to fit with peaks and troughs of demand the 747 was offered for lease and as such spent time with Cathay Pacific, Air Tours (UK), Air Pacific and Virgin Atlantic.

Highlights for the Queen of the Skies time with Air New Zealand are many but of special mention would be the carriage of Her Royal Highness Queen Elizabeth and entourage from the UK to NZ marking the first time a long haul commercial airline flight (NZ1  had been used to transport the Royals.

Kodiak across the Pacific

Missionary Aviation Fellowship (MAF) Indonesian branch at Papua are taken delivery of their first Quest Kodiak N995MF.  The aircraft was on display at this year's Oshkosh Airventure and then noted departing North Bend for Honolulu on 06 September before then flying onto Majuro arriving 09 September.

A google search shows the aircraft was also at the 2013 Oshkosh gathering, however at that time she was sporting floats.  This year, Quest/MAF had converted N995MF to its current configuration and displayed N113MF as its amphib offering.  The latter is also destined for operations in Indonesia's Kalimantan district.

MAF Newsletter from Fall 2013 : http://www.maf.org/document.doc?id=2085

and

http://www.maf.org/kodiak

The end is nigh.....

As this post goes to air, the last commercial flight by an Air New Zealand "four holer" should be getting underway as Boeing 747-419 ZK-NBV "Christchurch" roars out of San Francisco as NZ7 destined for Auckland.

The Air NZ promotional video below is a fitting tribute to the Queen of the Skies with magical footage of now dismantled Boeing 747-419 ZK-NBT flying over New Zealand's Southern Alps as seen from Boeing 737-200 ZK-NAA in April 1997.

Falcon 7X OO-LMG

The spate of interesting jets continues for Auckland with the arrival 10 September of Falcon 7X OO-LMG.

The Belgium registered Falcon is operated by Abelag Aviation and under the callsign "AAB011" flew direct to Auckland from Singapore/Changi carrying opera superstar Andrea Bocelli.

The most recent visit to our shores by an OO registered aircraft was also adorned on the side of a Falcon 7X, namely OO-EJA during April 2012.  It visited Auckland and Napier during its week long visit to our shores. 

http://mrcaviation.blogspot.co.nz/2012/04/recent-movements.html

http://mrcaviation.blogspot.co.nz/2012/04/belgium-falcon-departs.html

Hobbits visit Christchurch

Air New Zealand's Boeing 777-300 ZK-OKP, adorned in its special "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" decal made its first visit to Christchurch arriving from Auckland early on the afternoon of 10 September as ANZ1919 on a passenger charter flight.  After a short time on the ground the spectacular -300 departed back to Auckland as ANZ6682. 

There haven't been that many Air NZ 777-300 visits to Christchurch.  Our records show the following:

25 January 2011 - ZK-OKM Auckland-Christchurch-Auckland on a promo visit

02 April 2011 - ZK-OKO flew Auckland to Christchurch then conducted a local flight from/to the Garden City and then back to Auckland

14 April 2011 - ZK-OKO flew another Auckland-Christchurch-Auckland rotation for promotional visit

14 October 2012 - ZK-OKQ visited Christchurch for a rugby promotion, arriving from and returning to Auckland.

Snapped..........

Nicholas was on hand this evening to catch this historical moment of the last revenue flight departure of an Air New Zealand Boeing 747-400 from Auckland.  Here is a fantastic shot of ZK-NBV "Christchurch" at rotate off runway 05R at Auckland 10 September as it climbs away as ANZ8 destined for San Francisco.

Challenger 604 N604AU

Jetcity/Tyremax Pty Challenger 604 N604AU has been spotted around NZ in recent days.  The Melbourne/Essendon based jet arrived at Napier direct from Sydney 05 September and then flew Hamilton, Napier, Hamilton on the morning of 08 September before flying onto Auckland later the same day.  It then flew from Auckland to Nelson 11 September.

At Hamilton 08 September. 

Google Boeing 767 N2767

Blue City Holdings, aka Google, Boeing 767-238 N2767 wide body corporate has been a regular visitor this side of the equator for several months now along with other associated aircraft.

The ex Qantas airliner is seen here at Nadi earlier this month having arrived in Fiji from Moffett Field (KNUQ) via Honolulu on 28 August.  The aircraft is like so many blocked from tracking websites but so far this year we know of the following movements:
On the 1st day of 2014 it departed Port Vila for Maui and Moffett and returned to Port Vila from Honolulu on 01 June before later the same day flying to Nadi.  It then flew from Nadi to Honolulu and Moffett 10 June.   The 767 visited Nadi at the same time in 2012 and was in Nadi and Rarotonga during August 2013. It then spent time at Auckland in October 2013.

Sad End to Pioneering Aviation Firm

Beech Kansan ZK-AHO preserved at Auckland's MOTAT museum. 

The Hawkes Bay Today newspaper reported this past weekend the unfortunate demise of one of New Zealand's  enduring aircraft operators. 

As featured on 3rd Level New Zealand blog:

NZ Aerial Mapping's 22 staff will lose their jobs with 15 already made redundant. Bank-appointed receiver John Fisk, of Price Waterhouse Coopers, said the decision was made to close the company doors. "We haven't been able to sell the business as a going concern at a price that was acceptable to us, so we are now looking at a process to sell the assets on a break-up basis." It has more than one million images looking for a new home after the company became insolvent, the primary cause a Saudi Arabian contract with more than $1.5 million owing. Staff were told on Thursday the company would cease to trade once existing imagery, for New Zealand local government clients, was processed. Seven staff are retained until then and some may assist with the sale of the company's assets. In his first receiver's report, Mr Fisk said the Bank of New Zealand held a $4.8 million security over the company and unsecured creditors more than $1.8 million. The trade creditor balance was more than $2.5 million. The company has had a presence at the Bridge Pa Aerodrome since the 1930s but this year decided to move some parts of its business to Auckland and sell its Hastings Aerodrome holdings at Bridge Pa. Bayleys Realty said the aerial photography and mapping company's buildings, hangars and land remained on the market. In May managing director Mark Roberts said the shift to Auckland was to capitalise on its 2012 acquisition of Great Barrier Airlines. The company split its business between New Zealand and the Middle East, where it has two specialist planes based. It was founded by Henry Piet van Asch. One of his first commercial contracts was surveying the effects of the 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake on the region's water table. It is one of the longest established aerial survey companies in the world with experience on every continent except America. Since Mr van Asch's death in 1996 the it went through several changes, including overseas ownership and a move to Auckland before a return to Hastings. The company's head office is in Hastings' Avenue Rd East. In 2005 Mr Roberts bought the company in partnership with Mohammad Hanno, a Saudi Arabian airline pilot with several aviation business interests in New Zealand and overseas. Its first Middle East contract was surveying the Kuwait-Saudi Arabia border after winning an international tender. The project led to more work in the region, including the holy city of Mecca which required a Muslim crew. The company completed the biggest aerial mapping contract in New Zealand - the mapping of the entire Bay of Plenty for a company owned by nine councils. Mr Fisk said he expected government interest in company's archive, including and maps acquired from its purchase of former Crown entity Terralink. "The company has been around since 1936, it's a real shame." Mr van Asch was inducted into the Hawke's Bay Business Hall of Fame in 2011.

 http://www.nzherald.co.nz/hawkes-bay-today/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503462&objectid=11320071

As at 06 September, the NZ Aerial Mapping fleet of aircraft consisted of:

Aero Commander 680-F ZK-CDK. Last recorded flight was in March this year on aerial work out of Taupo but is no doubt back at Hastings.

Cessna 402B ZK-PVC.  It last flew on 23 August with a trip from Hastings to Whangarei and back.

Aero Commander 690A ZK-PVB.  This machine last flew on 29 May this year when it made its way from Whangarei to Hastings.  

Aero Commander 690 ZK-MOH.  It was imported to NZ in 2005 and departed our shores in May 2006 for overseas operations.  It has never returned to NZ - does anyone know of its current location?

Up Close with F-OZNC

Earlier today we posted shots of recently introduced to service Airbus A320 F-OZNC flying with Aircalin. We've since been provided with these great shots of the aircraft up close taken at Auckland on the occasion of its first visit.

Aircalin Airbus A320 F-OZNC

Aircalin's newest addition to the fleet made its first visit to Auckland 07 September.  Airbus A320 F-OZNC, sporting the New Caledonian carrier's new livery, arrived from Noumea as SB410 late morning and departed back to Noumea as SB411.

This particular airframe is no stranger to our region as it was most recently operated by Jetstar as VH-VQD and was withdrawn from service in May this year.  It underwent re livery and heavy maintenance at Singapore/Seletar and flew from there to Darwin and Noumea 06 August.  The aircraft was to then have cabin modifications including the installation of inflight entertainment featuring a wifi function to enable passengers to view movies, TV series and listen to music through their own personal devices such as iPhone, iPad etc.  This technology was recently used by MRC Aviation on trips with Southwest Airlines in the USA and it is very cool!

F-OZNC features a 158 seat cabin with 150 economy seats and 8 business (Hibiscus) class seats.

Its first revenue flight was flown on the recently introduced route from Noumea to Melbourne and back on 02 September.

We think the registration is rather cleverly done incorporating OZ (Australia), NC (New Caledonia) and I guess if you think about also NZ albeit back the front!

Airbus A330 F-OHSD ferried from Noumea to Singapore/Paya Lebar on 16 August for maintenance and repainting.

For more information on the additional aircraft and refreshing of the airline's look, check out:
http://www.aircalin.com/pdf/Aircalin-Press-Information.pdf

3 Avro Sisters: BBMF, CWHM, Vulcan to the Sky

OH MY!

Challenger 604 TC-ARD

Arriving at Auckland mid morning 06 September was ArkasAir Challenger 604 TC-ARD.  ArkasAir are based at Izmir, Turkey, and in addition to this 604 also operate a Challenger 300 TC-ARB and appear to have until recently operated a Learjet 60 registered TC-ARC. 

TC-ARD made its way to Auckland from Singapore/Changi via a techstop at Brisbane.

Harking back through our records it took some hunting to find the last visit to NZ by a Turkish registered aeroplane.

From a corporate jet perspective, the last visit was in April 2003 when Falcon 2000 TC-DGC (msn 166) was noted arriving at Queenstown from Sydney on the 8th, then flew to Nelson on the 11th and onto Auckland the next day before heading to Sydney on the 13th.  

In December 2005 NZ and Australia hosted then Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Ergodan who arrived in the region on board Turkish Air Force Airbus 319CJ TC-ANA and accompanied by Airbus A340-313X TC-JII of THY Airlines.