Our beautiful Convairs will remain in operation through until 2021 when we will start to phase them out completely. It will be a sad day when we witness our last Convair service. They have been the backbone of our airline for a quarter century!
Just after our DC-3 left for Tauranga and just before our ATR arrived from the Chathams.
A great photo taken this morning of our planes and hangar at aucklandairport.
Following the announcement of the trans-Tasman bubble,
we're excited to announce that we're resuming flights to and from Norfolk Island from May 27th, 2021.
Our timetable has been adjusted to see us flying from New Zealand to Norfolk Island on Thursdays departing Auckland at 10:30am allowing easy connections from domestic flights.
Flights will arrive back into Auckland at 4:45pm, again allowing for easy transit to destinations outside of Auckland.
We'll also be introducing a new aircraft type on this route - the Saab 340.
If you've travelled between Auckland and Whanganui or Kapiti with us before,
you'll have experienced the comfortable and spacious interior of this popular aircraft
that will be flying with our famous inflight service of Tim Tams!
On October 7, 2020, this website reported that New Zealand operator Air Chathams planned on retiring its CV580 aircraft in 2021 and replacing them with ATR-72s. Sadly this has come to pass with Tim Gorman/ZKaviation reporting that Air Chathams recently retired CV580 ZK-CIE, which had been in service with the airline since 1997. "The last airworthy fully passenger configured Convair 580 in scheduled service in the world, ZK-CIE is grounded, and will after 64 years not fly again. Air Chathams final remaining Convair 580 ZK-CIB is a "Combi" which has the capability of carrying passengers and freight at the same time." With Air Chathams reporting that all CV580s will be retired by September 2021, there’s not too much time left to get a ride on ZK-CIB. If you can’t hitch a ride on the real thing, AIRCLIPS has produced a 31 minute video documenting a flight onboard ZK-CIE that is very much worth watching.
The New Zealand Herald initially reported that the carrier's last aircraft of the type, ZK-CIB (msn 327A), would be permanently retired on July 29. However, the last scheduled flight from Chatham Island to Wellington took place six days earlier. Air Chathams has since deployed it between Auckland Int'l, Christchurch, and Wellington on non-scheduled cargo flights, Flightradar24 ADS-B data shows.
Chief Operating Officer Duane Emeny told ch-aviation that the aircraft would be retired in earnest on September 17, 2021.
"The recent lockdown in New Zealand has seen demand for Convair flights to connect South Island freight to Auckland for international connections," Emeny said.
Last year, the airline said ZK-CIB was due for an annual maintenance inspection in September 2021, which would be the limiting factor due to the high cost associated with the checks. Air Chathams has retired its two other CV-580s over the last few months namely ZK-KFL (msn 372) in October 2020 and ZK-CIE (msn 399) in April 2021.
The carrier acquired an ex-Mount Cook Airline ATR72-500 to operate its services from Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch to Chatham Island following the retirement of the last CV-580s. Its fleet also comprises two S340A(QC)s, one S340B, three Metroliners, one Cessna (single piston) C206, and a DC-3. Due to the current lockdown in New Zealand, the airline's active network is limited to cargo charters and essential flights to Chatham Island.
Well that is it ladies and gentleman. ZK-CIB has been retired.
Here is a video provided by Brods Photography of CIB lifting off out of NZCH on her last run ever,
with Captain Kevin and First officer Ruthy at the controls.
It's a sad end to the old girl.
We shall await and see what happens to her.
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