Category: Oceania Airlines

Persistence over Performance: Qantas Comet IVs

22/9/2019

Qantas had always been a well-run flag carrier and as such had shown little interest in Britain’s reborn Comet 4. Instead, despite some political pressure, it pragmatically turned towards the United States when it came to looking at its first jet equipment. Even so despite the acquisition of Boeing 707s Qantas would operate the British Comet albeit as part of a lease agreement with the British flag carrier BOAC.

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Shooting Star Pt2: Ansett New Zealand's 90s

18/10/2017

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Competing in the New Zealand domestic market had proved as tough as expected for the young comptitor, which had gone through 3 rebrands within 6 years, but with the strong backing of Ansett and a new young fleet the 90s would prove competition was possible, even if profitability was always on a knife edge.

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Shooting Star Pt1: Newmans - Ansett NZ

6/10/2017

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The New Zealand domestic market had long been the realm of National Airways Corporation (NAC) and later, post-merger, Air New Zealand. There had been attempts to compete but none had been successful or resulted in co-operation rather than competition. It wasn't until the mid-1980s that true competition was possible and out of that Ansett acquired a foothold in the New Zealand market, which it was to hold onto for 13 years.

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Ansett's 1980s Re-equipment Binge

17/2/2016

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Ansett entered the 1980s under new ownership and with a renewed sense of aggressive competition between it and TAA. Despite better cost control it also went on an aircraft buying binge, re-equipping its entire fleet with new Boeings and Airbuses. Though to a degree a necessity the over-ambitious and poorly thought through policy became a factor in the airline's eventual collapse.

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Last Minute Korus: NZ's 737-300s

11/2/2016

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By the late 1990s the Boeing 737-300 was not new technology and had been superseded in Boeing's catalogue by the Next Generation 737-700 and 800. Air New Zealand has always had an eye for value and did not feel that it needed to acquire the very latest models when cheaper alternatives were available. Boeing itself has typically employed a soft changeover from aircraft sub-types meaning that there had previously been 737-200s newer than the first series 300s and 747-300s newer than the first series 400s. That gave Air New Zealand an opportunity to take the last 737-300s from the production line, probably at a discount.

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First Domestic Widebodies in Oz: TAA's Airbus Indigestion

30/10/2015

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Contrary to expectations the nationalised Trans-Australia Airlines was always the pacesetter, compared to Ansett, in the government managed duopoly of Australian domestic routes. Ansett itself tended to be more content with the status quo. This was again the case with widebodies, though in this case being on the bleeding edge caused TAA some major problems.

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Qantas' Aboriginal Ties: Wunala Dreaming

29/10/2015

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The relationship between the principally white settlers of Australia and the native Aboriginal population has been one of exploitation, theft and effective extermination. However despite the lack of redress and continuing marginalisation of Aboriginal populations aspects of Aboriginal culture have become popular in the mainstream. Qantas, an important standard bearer for Australia's image abroad, has done much to this end by showcasing Aboriginal artwork on four of its fleet beginning with the most famous - Wunala Dreaming.

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The Career of DC-10-30 CN 47848 / LN 136: From New Zealand to the US via Fiji

16/1/2015

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Working on my model histories it is always an interesting moment when I realise that I have the same airframe in my collection multiple times. This is the case for one of my DC-10-30s. Ship 47848/136 began life as ZK-NZN with Air New Zealand in January 1974 and had been leased to Malaysian Airlines System between November 78 and April 81.

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Aussie 767-200s Pt2: Kangaroo Mini-hubbers

15/1/2015

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By 1980 Qantas had retired its last Boeing 707s and was unique in having a fleet made entirely of Boeing 747s. This however only lasted until June 1985 when the first of seven 767-200ERs arrived. As with everything in the heavily regulated Australian aviation scene though, getting the aircraft was a bit of a fight...

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Pacific Adventurers: UTA's Caravelles

16/12/2014

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Union de Transports Aériens (UTA) was formed in 1963 from the merger of UAT and TAI to create a powerful private international airline for France. With its own spheres of influence it had the largest African network of any Airline and connections with many other outposts of French influence, especially in Asia and the Pacific. Interestingly it also had regional traffic rights between Japan, New Caledonia and New Zealand and that is where the Caravelle comes onto the scene.

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Bird of Paradise: Air Niugini Style

11/12/2014

4 Comments

Back in June 2013 I acquired a model I never thought I'd own. I have several rare models (UA Caravelle, Frontier Saul Bass 737 etc) but none as rare or as beautiful as the Air Niugini A300. I don't usually buy expensive models but suffice to say that it still cost me more than twice any of my other models.

4 Comments

Persistence over Performance: Qantas Comet IVs

Shooting Star Pt2: Ansett New Zealand's 90s

Shooting Star Pt1: Newmans - Ansett NZ

Ansett's 1980s Re-equipment Binge

Last Minute Korus: NZ's 737-300s

First Domestic Widebodies in Oz: TAA's Airbus Indigestion

Qantas' Aboriginal Ties: Wunala Dreaming

The Career of DC-10-30 CN 47848 / LN 136: From New Zealand to the US via Fiji

Aussie 767-200s Pt2: Kangaroo Mini-hubbers

Pacific Adventurers: UTA's Caravelles

Bird of Paradise: Air Niugini Style

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