Air Auckland

Air Auckland (formerly Flight Hauraki) is a small regional and charter airline based in Ardmore, in New Zealand. The airline, now rebranded as Air Auckland under new ownership, offers scenic flight tours around Central Auckland and the Hauraki Gulf islands Rangitoto and Motutapu, alongside scheduled services and charters to airfields on Waiheke and Great Barrier islands.[2]

Air Auckland
IATA ICAO Callsign
– HKI[1] Hauraki
Founded17 March 2008
HubsArdmore Airport, Ardmore, New Zealand
HeadquartersArdmore, New Zealand
Websiteairauckland.com

History

Flight Hauraki Limited was founded on 17 March 2008 as an associate company of MDR Aviation Ltd, a company specialising in aircraft leases and imports.

In 2010 Flight Hauraki began operations with a charter and sightseeing service based out of the Salt Air terminal at North Shore Aerodrome. These services were operated by a fleet two Cessna 172s and Cessna 207, owned by the aforementioned MDR Aviation Ltd.

The airline took over management of Air Discovery's Waiheke Island based services to Auckland Airport in March 2012, as well as their sightseeing operation and flights from Great Barrier Island to Auckland.

Later in 2012, Flight Hauraki took over Salt Air's Kerikeri and Whangarei to North Shore 'Xpress' service, unique in its usage of the Northern Busway to transport passengers to the Auckland city centre relatively traffic free. However, this service failed to gain much popularity, so it was cut in February 2013, after less than three months of operation.

In 2014 the airline moved its main base to Waiheke Island and moved its satellite base to Ardmore. From Ardmore the airline began an "Island Hopper" service offering two return daily flights from Ardmore to Waiheke Island and on to Great Barrier Island. Flight Hauraki also began many daily unscheduled services to Waiheke Island on demand, aircraft based at each location.

Founder Paul McSherry sold the company to the New Zealand Aviation Group Limited in 2015, which set a greater focus on tourist operations.

The airline was renamed in 2018 to Air Auckland.[3][4]

A previously Flight Hauraki operated Cessna 172 at Ardmore in 2019, now with Air Auckland titles.

Fleet

The following aircraft were operated by the airline:[5]

Destinations

Previous destinations of Flight Hauraki included:[6]

References
  1. Not an ICAO allocation – issued for domestic use by the Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand
  2. "Flight Hauraki – Ardmore | Activities and Tours in Auckland, New Zealand". www.newzealand.com. Retrieved 10 January 2018.
  3. company homepage, accessdate 21 September 2020
  4. ch-aviation, accessdate 21 September 2020
  5. "Flight Hauraki About Us". Flight Hauraki. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
  6. "Flight Hauraki Transfer Flights". Flight Hauraki. Retrieved 21 April 2017.


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