South Pacific Airlines of New Zealand was a New Zealand airline, operating between 1960 and 1966. It is regarded as a forerunner to Ansett New Zealand.

History

South Pacific Airlines of New Zealand (SPANZ) was founded in 1960 by Bob Anderson and Rex Daniell, who had formerly been pilots for the National Airways Corporation, the state airline of the time.

Ansett Transport Industries Ansett Australia was a major Australian airline group, based in Melbourne, Australia. The airline flew domestically within Australia and from the 1990s to destinations in Asia. After operating for 65 years, the airline was placed into admini ...

had a 49% shareholding. SPANZ was established in direct competition with National Airways Corporation, although the airline's policy to link larger secondary towns. The New Zealand aviation industry at the time was highly regulated in favour of the state carrier, and SPANZ struggled financially. In 1966, the airline was forced to call in the receivers, making its last commercial flight on 28 February.

Fleet

SPANZ owned three

Douglas DC-3 The Douglas DC-3 is a propeller-driven airliner manufactured by Douglas Aircraft Company, which had a lasting effect on the airline industry in the 1930s to 1940s and World War II. It was developed as a larger, improved 14-bed sleeper version ...

s, named after New Zealanders Jean Batten,

George Bolt George Bruce Bolt (24 May 1893 – 27 July 1963) was a pioneering New Zealand aviator. Biography Bolt was born in Dunedin in 1893. He formed the Canterbury Aero Club in 1910, helping to make and fly gliders on the Cashmere Hills. He used the ...

and Ernest Rutherford. It also leased a number of other aircraft. The DC-3s were unique as they were equipped with enlarged elongated cabin windows, giving them the name "Viewmaster". They also had refurbished interiors up to the standard of more modern types then operating. This caused the National Airways Corporation to upgrade its large fleet of DC-3s. SPANZ had wanted to operate Convair 440s cascaded from Ansett-ANA but the Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand said that the airports to be used were substandard for the type. Just before the end, SPANZ had been given approval to operate Fokker F-27s.

Destinations

SPANZ operated (or planned to operate) from most large secondary towns with either paved or compacted grass runways. Hubs: Palmerston North, Christchurch Destinations: Kaitaia, Auckland,

Rotorua Rotorua () is a city in the Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand's North Island. The city lies on the southern shores of Lake Rotorua, from which it takes its name. It is the seat of the Rotorua Lakes District, a territorial authority encompass ...

, Matamata,

Ōpōtiki Ōpōtiki (; from ''Ōpōtiki-Mai-Tawhiti'') is a small town in the eastern Bay of Plenty in the North Island of New Zealand. It houses the headquarters of the Ōpōtiki District Council and comes under the Bay of Plenty Regional Council. G ...

, Gisborne, Wairoa,

New Plymouth New Plymouth ( mi, Ngāmotu) is the major city of the Taranaki region on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is named after the English city of Plymouth, Devon from where the first English settlers to New Plymouth migrated. ...

Masterton Masterton ( mi, Whakaoriori), a large town in the Greater Wellington Region of New Zealand, operates as the seat of the Masterton District (a territorial authority or local-government district). It is the largest town in the Wairarapa, a r ...

, Wellington, Nelson, Blenheim, Hokitika,

Alexandra Alexandra () is the feminine form of the given name Alexander (, ). Etymologically, the name is a compound of the Greek verb (; meaning 'to defend') and (; GEN , ; meaning 'man'). Thus it may be roughly translated as "defender of man" or "prot ...

, Christchurch, Timaru, Oamaru, Dunedin, Queenstown, Gore, Invercargill

Pan Pacific airline

SPANZ was going to be part of Reginald Ansett's dream of operating a Pan-Pacific airline using the help of US carrier Braniff Airlines in which he had holdings. During the SPANZ era, it as well as Ansett-ANA and Braniff all shared the same style of livery in anticipation of this. In the era of heavy global regulation of air routes, this plan was not to eventuate. It was only realised when the Virgin Group expanded into Australasia with

Virgin Blue Virgin Australia, the trading name of Virgin Australia Airlines Pty Ltd, is an Australian-based airline. It is the largest airline by fleet size to use the Virgin brand. It commenced services on 31 August 2000 as ''Virgin Blue'', with two a ...

in 2001 and NZ subsidiary

Pacific Blue Airlines The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

in 2004. This airline then created a seamless service in the Pacific with the creation of

V Australia V Australia was a long-haul international airline owned by Virgin Australia Holdings that commenced operating on 27 February 2009. As part of a rebranding of all of Virgin Australia Holdings' subsidiaries, on 7 December 2011 it was subsumed in ...

in 2009.

References

Airlines established in 1960 Airlines disestablished in 1966 Ansett Australia Defunct airlines of New Zealand 1966 disestablishments in New Zealand New Zealand companies established in 1960 {{Oceania-airline-stub

History

Fleet

Destinations

Pan Pacific airline

See also

References