Air National

Air National was an airline based in Auckland, New Zealand. It operated domestic and international charter services and scheduled passenger services for Air New Zealand Link. Its main bases were Auckland International Airport [2]

Not to be confused with National Airlines (disambiguation).
For the Indian radio station, see AIR National.

Air National
IATA ICAO Callsign
- NTL[1] NATIONAL[1]
Founded1989
Ceased operations2012
Operating basesAuckland International Airport
DestinationsChristchurch - Hokitika, Christchurch - Blenheim, Blenheim -Wellington
Websitewww.airnational.co.nz

History

The airline was established in 1989 and started operations in 1990. Its 'shooting stars' logo was the original 1990 Commonwealth Games logo, held in Auckland that year. It was originally known as Menzies Aviation and re-branded as Air National Corporate in 1992. In 1996 the company won a New Zealand airways calibration contract for all local and South Pacific operations. Scheduled operations for Ansett New Zealand and operations as an international jet charter broker were launched in 1997. The airline was owned by Ian Gray and Jason Gray and had 50 employees.[2]

Air National has re-branded some of its corporate jet services under the brand of JetPlus.

Air National has also branded its FBO operations under the brand of SkyCare International

In January 2011, Air National's operator's certificate was suspended by the New Zealand Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) over alleged training records irregularities . Air National appealed the decision in the High Court and the suspension was quashed pending a full investigation. The CAA appealed the high Court decision to the Court of Appeal and the lower court ruling was quashed in turn.[3]

As of January 2012, Air National no longer operates. All aircraft are now in use by other charter operators Vincent Aviation and Airwork and the company no longer holds an Air Operator's Certificate.

In October 2014, Air National's BAe146-200 was returned from Vincent Aviation.

Destinations

Air National operated scheduled services for Air New Zealand Link to the following destinations:[2]

Air National also provided ad hoc airline support for Eagle Air and Air Nelson throughout their respective networks.

Fleet
Air National's Gulfstream IV-SP at Sydney Airport in 2008

The Air National fleet consisted of the following aircraft (at November 2010):[2]

Previously operated

The airline also operated:

Incidents
  • On 8 February 2008, the pilots of Eagle Airways Flight 2279 (operated by Air National) from Blenheim to Christchurch were attacked and stabbed by a female passenger who claimed to have two bombs on board. The woman was subdued and the aircraft made a safe landing.[6][7]

References
  1. Not an ICAO allocation - issued for domestic use by the Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand
  2. "Directory: World Airlines". Flight International. 27 March 2007. p. 63.
  3. "Air National remains grounded". Stuff.co.nz. 7 February 2011. Retrieved 16 September 2011.
  4. http://www.caa.govt.nz/Script/AirReg3.asp?Mark=eco&Query3=Get+Reg+Mark
  5. http://3rdlevelnz.blogspot.com/2010/10/air-national-farewells-j32-zk-ecn.html
  6. "Mid-air bomb threat, stabbing drama". Stuff.co.nz. 8 February 2008. Retrieved 16 September 2011.
  7. http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=20080208-0
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.