Pasifika Air was a proposed

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

-based

airline An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines for ...

planning to operate scheduled direct passenger flights between

Christchurch, New Zealand Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

and

Rarotonga, Cook Islands Rarotonga is the largest and most populous of the Cook Islands. The island is volcanic, with an area of , and is home to almost 75% of the country's population, with 13,007 of a total population of 17,434. The Cook Islands' Parliament buildings a ...

. Originally called "JetRaro", the airline was rebranded as Pasifika Air in December 2020.

History

In July 2020, Christchurch businessman

Mike Pero Michael Pero (born 26 February 1960) is a New Zealand businessman and entrepreneur. Professional history Pero founded his mortgage broking business in 1991. In 2011, Pero established a real estate company under the same brand name. In recen ...

announced his intention to incorporate the airline, subject to government approval, to form an air-link between Christchurch and the Cook Islands following the lifting of border restrictions as the result of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. The initial proposal was to operate between three and five direct flights per week between Christchurch and Rarotonga, using a wet-leased

Airbus A320 The Airbus A320 family is a series of Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body airliners developed and produced by Airbus. The A320 was launched in March 1984, Maiden flight, first flew on 22 February 1987, and was introduced in April 1988 by Air F ...

aircraft. In December 2020 Pero announced plans for the airline to conduct services itself under its own air operator certificate, utilising leased 737-800's. It was also announced that flights from Wellington to the Cook Islands would be included as well as Christchurch. The company was registered in early December 2020. Initial plans were for flights to commence in May 2021. Continued uncertainty over the New Zealand Governments approach to the opening of a quarantine-free travel "bubble" between New Zealand and the Cook Islands saw Pero announce a pause on the launch. Pero noted that much of the work required to establish the airline was complete, and would be resumed when greater certainty could be established regarding NZ/Cook Islands travel. Pero further noted that "''The company and its funds remain fully intact and we will progress our AOC to a point where we can be ready to reignite.'"'' At the start of May 2021, the New Zealand Government finally announced the commencement of a quarantine-free travel bubble between New Zealand & the Cook Islands. The bubble opened on 17 May 2021. On 4 May, Pero announced that the launch of Pasifika Air had resumed. First flights were expected in the 4th quarter of 2021. On 18 Jun, Pero announced that lack of support from Cook Islands government had led to the grounding of his planned launch.

Service

Precise details of the airlines service offering were to be revealed. It was expected the airlines offering to the Cook Islands would have focused on a more 'premium' product.

Planned destinations

Fleet

In an interview with Radio New Zealand on 4 May, Pero noted that the planned fleet would've likely consisted of Boeing 737–800 aircraft, but this was subject to confirmation.

References

External links

Pasifika Air website
{{Airlines of New Zealand, state=expanded Airlines of the Cook Islands Airlines of New Zealand Rarotonga Proposed airlines