Freedom Air

This article is about the former airline of New Zealand. For the Guam-based airline, see Freedom Air (Guam).

Freedom Air (legally Freedom Air International) was a New Zealand low-cost airline which operated since 8 December 1995 to March 2008. It was part of the Air New Zealand Group which ran scheduled passenger services from New Zealand to Australia and Fiji and charter services within New Zealand. Its main hub was Auckland Airport.^[1]

Freedom Air International

IATA ICAO Call sign SJ FOM FREE AIR
Founded	1995 (1995)
Commenced operations	8 December 1995 (1995-12-08)
Ceased operations	30 March 2008 (2008-03-30)
Hubs	Auckland Airport
Fleet size	11
Destinations	13
Parent company	Air New Zealand
Headquarters	Auckland, New Zealand
Key people	Rob Fyfe (CEO)
Website	www.freedomair.com

History

Freedom Air's leased Boeing 757-200 at Hamilton Airport, used on its inaugural flight in 1995

A Freedom Air Airbus A320-200 at Christchurch Airport in 2006

The airline was established in 1995 as a response to the commencement of discount services between Australia and New Zealand by Kiwi Travel International Airlines^[2] and started operations on 8 December 1995 with a single Boeing 757-200. It was ordinally formed as South Pacific Air Charters by Mount Cook Airline and renamed to Freedom Air International in 1998.

By 2004, its fleet had expanded to five Boeing 737-300^[3] aircraft and it was providing direct non-stop services to the Australian cities of Brisbane, Gold Coast, Newcastle, Sydney and Melbourne from Hamilton, Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin and Palmerston North. Flights to Fiji were also operated. It briefly operated on the New Zealand main trunk domestic routes such as Auckland–Christchurch, but ceased these services to concentrate on providing value trans-Tasman flights.^[2]

In June 2006, the aircraft from Freedom Air were combined with Air New Zealand's fleet of Airbus A320-200 under the air operator's certificate of Zeal320, which was then the sole operator of the Air New Zealand Group's Airbus fleet.^[4] When the airline ceased Zeal320 had one aircraft painted in Freedom Air livery.^[5] As such, Freedom Air has no aircraft or current air operator's certificate, and Freedom Air is no longer an operational entity.^[6]

Air New Zealand ceased all Freedom Air operations from the end of March 2008.^[7]

Destinations

Throughout its existence, Freedom Air flew to six destinations in New Zealand, five in Australia and one in Fiji.^[8] When the airline shut down on 30 March 2008, all services were replaced by Air New Zealand flights, with the exception of flights out of Palmerston North, which left the airport without any international services.^[9] Flights to Nadi and Newcastle were withdrawn prior to 2008.

•  Australia
  • Brisbane – Brisbane Airport
  • Gold Coast – Gold Coast Airport
  • Melbourne – Melbourne Airport
  • Newcastle – Newcastle Airport^[10]
  • Sydney – Sydney Airport

•  Fiji
  • Nadi – Nadi International Airport^[11]

•  New Zealand
  • Auckland – Auckland Airport (Hub)
  • Christchurch – Christchurch Airport
  • Dunedin – Dunedin Airport
  • Hamilton – Hamilton Airport
  • Palmerston North – Palmerston North Airport
  • Wellington – Wellington Airport

Fleet

A Freedom Air Airbus A320-200 with a special livery to promote Warner Bros. Movie World

Freedom Air had operated the following aircraft: ^[12]

Freedom Air fleet

Aircraft	Total	Introduced	Retired	Notes
Airbus A320-200	13	2005[13]	2008	3 leased from Air New Zealand.
Boeing 737-200	2	2001	2001	1 leased from Airwork.
Boeing 737-300	9	1996	2006	3 leased from Air New Zealand. 2 leased from TACA Airlines. 1 leased from Polynesian Airlines 1 leased from Transavia.
Boeing 757-200	1	1995	1996	Leased from Britannia Airways.

See also

• List of defunct airlines of New Zealand
• History of aviation in New Zealand