Freedom Air
Freedom Air was Air New Zealand Group's low-cost airline which operated from December 1995 to March 2008. It ran scheduled passenger services from New Zealand to Australia and Fiji and charter services within New Zealand. Its main base was Auckland Airport.
History
The airline was established in 1995 as a response to the commencement of discount services between Australia and New Zealand by Kiwi Airlines and started operations on 8 December 1995 with a single Boeing 757. It was formed as South Pacific Air Charters by Mount Cook Airline.By 2004 its fleet had expanded to five Boeing 737-300 aircraft and it was providing direct non-stop services to the Australian cities of Brisbane, Gold Coast, Newcastle, Sydney and Melbourne from Hamilton, Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin and Palmerston North. Flights to Fiji were also operated. It briefly operated on the New Zealand main trunk domestic routes such as Auckland–Christchurch, but ceased these services to concentrate on providing value trans-Tasman flights.
In June 2006, aircraft from Freedom Air were combined with Air New Zealand's fleet of Airbus A320-200 under the air operator's certificate of Zeal320 Limited, which was then the sole operator of the Air New Zealand Group's Airbus fleet. When the airline ceased Zeal320 had one aircraft painted in Freedom Air livery. As such, Freedom Air has no aircraft or current air operator's certificate, and Freedom Air is no longer an operational entity.
Air New Zealand ceased all Freedom Air operations from the end of March 2008.
Aircraft fleet
| Aircraft | Introduced | Retired | Notes |
| Airbus A320 | 2003 | 2008 | Thirteen aircraft |
| Boeing 737-200 | 19962001 | 19972001 | Four aircraft |
| Boeing 737-300 Classic | 1996 | 2008 | Five aircraft |
| Boeing 757-200 | 1995 | 1996 | One aircraft leased from Britannia Airways |