| Founded | 2019 |
|---|---|
| Ceased operations | March 7, 2022 |
| Operating bases | Nelson Airport (New Zealand) |
| Fleet size | 5 |
| Destinations | 6 |
| Headquarters | Nelson, New Zealand |
Nelson Airways was a New Zealand virtual airline company based at Nelson Airport (New Zealand).
History
The company was established in March of 2019. The virtual airline's flights were originally planned to be operated by New Zealand Mount Cook Airline [1] In June 2021, Nelson Airways also announced the launch of five leisure destinations from Nelson Airport (New Zealand) in New Zealand. [2] Also in August 2021, Nelson Airways has been accused of greenwashing after conversations arose regarding their supported environmental projects and organizations (New Zealand) 19 August 2021
In October 2021, Nelson Airways announced it would start domestic operations from Queenstown Airport and Nelson Airport (New Zealand) in 2022. However, in November 2021, Nelson Airways announced it would pause all flight activities until February 2022. [3] The new routes were then rescheduled to late March 2022 or in the case of the Nelson Airport (New Zealand) services without a new date announcement. 31 January 2022 This sparked controversy as both Queenstown and Hamilton airports confirmed that neither Nelson Airways nor another operating carrier of their behalf requested the necessary slots for the routes as of late January.
After cancelling several scheduled inaugural flights for their expanded network, Nelson Airways commenced one of their new services in January 2022 with a Cessna 172 instead of the planned Cessna Caravan due to lower than expected passenger numbers.
On 7 March 2022, Nelson Airways announced the termination of all scheduled and charter operations with immediate effect stating an unviable business case for the time being. - (New Zealand) 7 March 2022
Destinations
As of March 2022, prior to the suspension of all services, Nelson Airways served the following - partially seasonal - destinations:
- New Zealand
- Hamilton - Hamilton Airport
- Queenstown - Queenstown Airport
- Dunedin - Dunedin Airport
- Palmerston North - Palmerston North Airport
- Kerikeri - Bay of Islands Airport
- Westport - Westport Airport (New Zealand)
Fleet
As of November 2019, Nelson Airways' flights are operated by the following contracted aircraft:
References
- ^ "New Zealand Startup Nelson Airways Hopes To Take Off This Year". January 2019. Nelson Airways then announced contracts with Air Nelson to operate their seasonal leisure services from Nelson and Hamilton.[ https://www.aerotelegraph.com/butterfly air-service (New Zealand) 10 July 2021
- ^ "Nelson Airways outlines Nelson routes". Routes. They also started to serve Hamilton Airport{{Cite web|date=March 26, 2021| However, in July 2021, Nelson Airways announced the suspension of all flights including leisure charters stating the COVID-19 pandemic. The virtual airline then also planned to acquire its own operations license. In August 2021, a dispute between Nelson Airways and another current wetlease contractor, Koru Airlines, has been reported resulting in the termination of their agreement. A few weeks prior, Whanau Airlines also pulled out of their mutual affiliation bringing back Kia Aviation to operate the currently remaining New Zealand domestic flights.<ref 3 August 2021 Shortly after, Koru Airlines sued Nelson Airways for up to 8 million NZD for alleged breach of contract. airliners.de (New Zealand) 23 August 2021
- ^ airliners.de 2 November 2021
