Discover

'Mount Cook Airline' is an airline based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It is wholly owned by Air New Zealand and operates scheduled services throughout the country under the Air New Zealand Link brand. Its main base is Christchurch International Airport^[1].

Contents

Code data

History

Destinations

Fleet

Previously operated

References

Code data

★ IATA Code: 'NM'

★ ICAO Code: 'NZM'

★ Callsign: Mount Cook^[2]

History

The airline was established and started operations in 1920 as New Zealand Aero Transport Company, at Timaru. It subsequently operated under a variety of names until the start of scheduled services on 6 November 1961, when the present name was adopted. It has 378 employees (at March 2007).
The parent company Mount Cook Group also operated bus services, trucking and skifields. Founded by Sir Henry Wigley with a single Auster, (now preserved at Queenstown), the airline was originally aimed at taking tourists to skifields and glaciers in ski equipped light planes; a role still performed by Cessna 185s and Pilatus Porters. The airline expanded into a local network, with Douglas DC-3s, Grumman Widgeons and later Hawker Siddeley 748s.
The airline's symbol is the Mount Cook Lily, which prior to the integration with the Air New Zealand link brand was displayed on the tails of its aeroplanes. Air New Zealand purchased half of the Mount Cook Group in the late 1980s. It purchased the remainder in the mid 1990s.

Destinations

Auckland	Napier, Palmerston North
Christchurch	Dunedin, Hamilton, Invercargill, Palmerston North, Rotorua, Queenstown, Wellington
Hamilton	Palmerston North
Wellington	Hamilton, Queenstown (direct; seasonal)

Fleet

The Mount Cook Airline fleet consists of the following aircraft (as of March 2007) :

★ 11 ATR 72-500

Previously operated

The airline previously operated an ex Origin Pacific Airways ATR 72, after Origin Pacific could no longer afford to operate it.

References

1. Directory: World Airlines
2. Airline Codes November 2006