Mountain Air (New Zealand)

Last updated

Mountain Air
Mountain Air (New Zealand) Logo.gif
IATA ICAO Callsign
--
Founded1988
Ceased operationsMarch 28, 2021
Hubs Chateau Airfield, Mount Ruapehu
Fleet size2
Parent company Mountain Air Limited
Headquarters Tongariro National Park, New Zealand
Key peopleBhrent Guy (Chief Pilot/CEO)
Website www.mountainair.co.nz
Mountain Air Cessna 172 Mountain Air Cessna 172.jpg
Mountain Air Cessna 172

Mountain Air was a scenic flight operation founded in 1988 and was based at the Chateau Airfield on the edge of the Tongariro National Park Dual World Heritage area. The majority of Mountain Air's business were scenic flights, but the company also provided charter flight options, and was the sole provider of aerial tracking for Kiwi and Short-tailed bats in the Central North Island. [1] On 28 March 2021, the airline ceased all operations.

Contents

Mountain Air was owned by Bhrent and Kathy Guy. A former part of the company was operating independently as Fly My Sky in the Auckland Region until the end of June 2021, when it too ceased all operations.

History

Mountain Air was founded in 1988 by Keith and Robyn McKenzie and used a Cessna 172 and 206 to conduct scenic flights over the Tongariro National Park. The company established an airstrip on a high country sheep station airfield at the base of the active volcano, Mount Ruapehu. Recently passengers have had the added attraction of viewing sites in the Park where filming for The Lord of the Rings film trilogy took place.

In 2005 then Prime Minister Helen Clarke was flying aboard a Piper Aztec when the door came loose mid-flight. The plane landed safely.

Two Britten Norman Islanders and two Piper Aztec aircraft were added to the fleet and services extended to provide New Zealand wide charter. Schedule services were developed to provide several flights a day between Auckland International Airport, Whangarei and Great Barrier Island in the Hauraki Gulf in 1998. Two more Britten-Norman Islander aircraft were added to the fleet in 2006 & 2007.

The Chateau division was sold to Bhrent and Kathy Guy in 2007 and retains the name ‘Mountain Air’ operating the Cessna 172 and Cessna 206. The Auckland base was renamed 'Fly My Sky' and now is operated as a separate company by Keith and Robyn McKenzie.

Flight operations at Mountain Air include:

On March 28, the airline shut down and ceased all operations.

Fleet

The fleet consisted of one Cessna 172 and one Cessna 206. [2]

See also

Related Research Articles

Air St. Thomas was an airline based on the island of St. Thomas, in the United States Virgin Islands. It operated regular and charter passenger services. Its main base was Cyril E. King Airport, St Thomas. It ceased operations in December 2005. The company, founded in 1975, was banned in March 2004 on the French airports and is since then blacklisted. This commuter air carrier had a very small fleet and did not operate long haul routes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Air Chathams</span> Airline based in the Chatham Islands of New Zealand

Air Chathams Limited is an airline based in the Chatham Islands, New Zealand. It was established in 1984 and operates scheduled passenger services between the Chatham Islands and mainland New Zealand along with routes between Auckland and Whakatāne, and Auckland and Whanganui. Its main base is Chatham Islands / Tuuta Airport.

El Sol de América C.A. was a Venezuelan airline headquartered in Caracas. It operated domestic charter services. Its bases were at Simón Bolívar International Airport and Josefa Camejo International Airport.

Aspiring Air was an airline based in Wanaka, New Zealand. It operated charter pleasure flights around New Zealand's Southern Alps and scheduled services three times daily to Queenstown, connecting with Air New Zealand. Its main base was Wanaka Airport.

Tasair was an airline based in Hobart and Devonport, Australia. It operated a regional network across Tasmania until it was placed in voluntary liquidation on 3 February 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alkan Air</span> Canadian charter airline and air ambulance

Alkan Air Ltd. is an airline headquartered in Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada. The company operates seven-day-a-week charter and air ambulance (medevac) services. The Whitehorse and Mayo (seasonal) bases generally focus on wheel and floatplane charter and medevac services in northern and western Canada and Alaska. The Nanaimo, BC base provides charter and medevac services, focused primarily in western Canada, the western United States and Mexico. From 2016 to 2018, Alkan also operated scheduled flights between Erik Nielsen Whitehorse International Airport and Watson Lake Airport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sounds Air</span> New Zealand airline

Sounds Air is a New Zealand airline based at Picton. The airline was founded in 1986 by Cliff and Diane Marchant to provide low cost flights to the Marlborough Sounds. The airline has a maintenance facility at Omaka aerodrome with its Sounds Aero Maintenance division based there.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tauranga Airport</span> Airport in Tauranga

Tauranga Airport is an airport serving the city of Tauranga, New Zealand. It is located adjacent to Tauranga Harbour in the suburb of Mount Maunganui, approximately 3 km northeast of Tauranga CBD. The terminal is located to the north of the runway, on Jean Batten Drive, and consists of a two-storey building with four tarmac gates. Air New Zealand serves the airport through its subsidiaries Mount Cook Airline and Air Nelson, with flights to Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. A further two regional airlines also operate to the airport, as well as scenic and charter flights, skydiving operations and general aviation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fly My Sky</span>

Fly My Sky was a small airline based in Auckland, New Zealand. It operated between Auckland, Matamata and Great Barrier Island. The airline went into liquidation at the end of June 2021. The airline evolved out of the now also defunct Mountain Air.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barrier Air</span>

Barrier Air is a New Zealand airline that was established in 1983 by Jim Bergman as Great Barrier Airlines. The head office is located at the Domestic Terminal at Auckland Airport in Mangere, with additional offices in the terminal buildings at Great Barrier Aerodrome, Kaitaia Airport and North Shore Aerodrome.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Island Air Charters</span>

Island Air Charters is an air charter company based in Tauranga, New Zealand. The company is owned by Paul Ensor and offers charter services around the Bay of Plenty using Cessna light aircraft.

Mount Cook Group was a New Zealand tourism and transport operator founded on 2 April 1912 by Rodolph Lysaght Wigley. Originally a road transport business, the Mount Cook Tourist Company of New Zealand became a public company in 1928. By 1930 Wigley had built it into the largest tourist organisation in New Zealand, and it was renamed Mount Cook and Southern Lakes Tourist Company, the name adopted in the mid-1930s. In 1976 it became The Mount Cook Group Ltd. The company was split in 1989 with various operations progressively sold off, with Air New Zealand retaining the airline businesses. The company remained until 17 June 2013 when it was amalgamated into Air New Zealand Associated Companies Limited, a holding company for Air New Zealand's various businesses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sunair</span>

Sunair is an airline based in New Zealand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Talair</span> Papua New Guinea airline

TALAIR was a Papua New Guinea airline founded in 1952. It ceased operations in 1993.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Servant Air</span> Commuter airline based out of Kodiak, Alaska

Servant Air, Inc. is an American regional airline with operations throughout The United States and Alaska, USA. It operates domestic scheduled passenger and charter services. Its main scheduled airline service base is Kodiak Airport (PADQ) with regional operations bases in Boston, Massachusetts, White Plains, New York, and Manassas Virginia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Salt Air</span>

Salt Air is a New Zealand charter airline based at Paihia in the Bay of Islands, in the Northland Region of the North Island.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Skycraft Air Transport</span>

Skycraft Air Transport Inc. was a Canadian airline based at Oshawa Municipal Airport in Oshawa, Ontario, that operated between 1979 and 1994.

Air Safaris is a New Zealand scenic flight and air charter company based at the Lake Tekapo Airport located 2.8 km west of the town of Lake Tekapo, off State Highway 8 in the Mackenzie District of New Zealand. The airline operates from 5 bases: Tekapo, Franz Josef, Glentanner, Twizel and Mt Cook airports. The company logo is a stylised chamois; these are wild goat-like antelope which inhabits the region of the South Island High Country.

Glenorchy Air is a scenic flight and air charter company based at Queenstown Airport, New Zealand. The company was founded by Janet and Robert Rutherford in 1992, with just one aeroplane, a Cessna 185. With the expansion of the business, a second aircraft, a Piper PA-32-300 Cherokee Six, was purchased in 1996. The Cessna 185 was sold in 2003 when it was replaced by a new Gippsland GA8 Airvan. The company took delivery of a second Airvan in 2013 and added two more before the business was sold in 2019.

Air Auckland is a small airline based at Ardmore Airport in New Zealand. The company is a fixed-wing and CAA part 135 air operator that offers flight services including regular flights to Whitianga and Great Barrier Island.

References