Kiwi Regional Airlines

Tag Archives for Kiwi Regional Airlines.

I told you so! Kiwi Regional Folds

I have seen so many airlines come and go. Fine ideas that seemed great have resulted in so many failures. I gave Kiwi Regional Airlines six months. I am not proud to say, I was almost right. I was out by one month. The carrier closed after nine months of flying. The decision to close was made after seven months. The good news is that their plane (yes one plane), engineers and staff are being transferred to Air Chathams. The routes are gone -again. Sadly, so have their beautiful luggage tags. NZ is a very tough…

Continue Reading »

Will Kiwi Regional Airlines succeed? Risks are high.

Between 1994 and 1996, a small New Zealand airline Kiwi Travel International Airlines established by Ewan Wilson turned Australian-New Zealand air travel on its head. Initially operating from secondary NZ airports Hamilton and Dunedin, the carrier expanded to Christchurch.  Offering a “Cola and Peanuts”  fare, they introduced fares that significantly undercut Air New Zealand and Qantas, the established trans-Tasman carriers. Air New Zealand countered by establishing its own low cost subsidiary Freedom Air in December, 1995 which also operated from secondary airports. Fares plunged so low that passengers were picking up flights for $US120 round trip for the 2200 km (1378 mile) international…

Continue Reading »