Virgin Australia Airlines (NZ) Limited formerly Pacific Blue Airlines (NZ) Limited, was an

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 ...

based in

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 ...

. It was established as the New Zealand subsidiary of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n airline Virgin Blue (now Virgin Australia). It was a fully owned subsidiary of

Virgin Australia Holdings Virgin Australia Holdings Limited is the holding company that owns and operates Virgin Australia, Virgin Australia International Airlines and Virgin Australia Regional Airlines. It previously operated Pacific Blue Airlines, Tigerair Australia a ...

. It was renamed Virgin Australia Airlines (NZ) Ltd in December 2011 when its parent company decided to bring all its airlines under the one banner. It was based at

Christchurch 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

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

and operated air services between New Zealand and Australia as well as the Pacific Islands. It also operated services on behalf of

Virgin Samoa Virgin Samoa, formerly Polynesian Blue, was the flag carrier of Samoa. It was owned by Virgin Australia Holdings (49%), the Government of Samoa (49%) and Grey Investment Group (2%). Polynesian Blue took over the long haul flights (those involv ...

(formerly known as ''Polynesian Blue''). The airline has brought all its flying under its parent VA Air Operating Certificate. The final New Zealand registered Pacific Blue aircraft ZK-PBL finished up flying 13 March 2015 as VA161 AKL-BNE, bringing a visible end to Pacific Blue and being renamed to Virgin Australia NZ (VANZ). With the withdrawal of ZK-PBL, the New Zealand register connection ended after 11 years of aircraft on the New Zealand register from January 23, 2004, to March 14, 2015.

History

The airline was established in 2003 and started operations on 29 January 2004 with a service between Christchurch and

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

. On 1 August 2007, the ICAO code was changed from PBI to PBN. This was done in consultation with air traffic controllers to prevent confusion between the letter ''I'' and the number ''1'' in flight plans. On 21 August 2007, Pacific Blue announced its intention to begin domestic services in New Zealand with the first flights commencing 12 November 2007. The initial routes were

–

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

–Wellington and Auckland–Christchurch. Later

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

flights started. Pacific Blue announced its rollout of Premium economy seating across its fleet from March 2010 to match that of its sister Virgin Blue. Premium Economy is the front three rows of each aircraft – fitted with a unique red leather converter seat that folds from three abreast to two abreast when used in Premium Economy configuration. On 16 August 2010, it was announced that Pacific Blue would be withdrawing from the New Zealand domestic market, with aircraft being reallocated to tran-tasman and medium-haul routes. The last Pacific Blue domestic New Zealand service was operated on 17 October 2010, from Wellington to Auckland. Pacific Blue was renamed Virgin Australia Airlines (NZ) Ltd in December 2011, as part of a unification of the company's holdings under a common brand. In March 2015, the last New Zealand registered Virgin 737 ZK-PBL was withdrawn and placed on the Australian register, ending over 11 years of New Zealand AOC operations. All aircraft were distributed between Virgin Australia's domestic and international arms on the VH register. VANZ Auckland and Christchurch based pilots and cabin crew continued to fly the same routes and some of the same aircraft under the Virgin Australia International Airlines air operator certificate. On 3 April 2020 amid the Coronavirus outbreak and worldwide lockdowns, Virgin Australia closed its New Zealand bases leaving all 208 pilots and over 300 cabin crew redundant. The affected unions (NZALPA and E Tu) were highly critical of this decision and the consultation that proceeded it, as Virgin would not provide any meaningful information for counter proposals to be formulated.

Destinations

The airline operated scheduled passenger services between New Zealand and Australia; and to the Pacific Islands. New Zealand served airports are:

and Queenstown. Formerly

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

was served from

services ended in October 2012. International destinations served are:

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

Nadi Nadi (pronounced ) is the third-largest conurbation in Fiji. It is located on the western side of the main island of Viti Levu, and had a population of 42,284 at the most recent census, in 2007. A 2012 estimate showed that the population had ...

, Port Vila, Apia–Faleolo, Nuku'alofa,

Rarotonga 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 ...

and

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

. Formerly

Cairns Cairns (, ) is a city in Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. The population in June 2019 was 153,952, having grown on average 1.02% annually over the preceding five years. The city is the 5th-most-p ...

(ex Auckland),

Port Moresby (; Tok Pisin: ''Pot Mosbi''), also referred to as Pom City or simply Moresby, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea. It is one of the largest cities in the southwestern Pacific (along with Jayapura) outside of Australia and New Z ...

, and

Honiara Honiara () is the capital and largest city of Solomon Islands, situated on the northwestern coast of Guadalcanal. , it had a population of 92,344 people. The city is served by Honiara International Airport and the seaport of Point Cruz, and lie ...

(both ex Brisbane) were served.

Fleet

The fleet consisted of nine Boeing 737 aircraft, which were registered in New Zealand. The airline's Boeing 737s were all former Pacific Blue aircraft. The nine aircraft were registered ZK-PBA, PBB, PBD, PBG, PBI, PBJ, PBK, PBL, and PBM. Out of Pacific Blue's 10-strong Boeing 737 fleet, nine continued to fly for Virgin Australia NZ , while ZK-PBC was retired before Virgin Australia NZ was established.

References

External links

Virgin Australia: New Zealand
{{Virgin Group Airlines established in 2003 Defunct airlines of New Zealand A New Zealand companies established in 2003 Airlines disestablished in 2015 2015 disestablishments in New Zealand

History

Destinations

Fleet

See also

References

External links