Great Barrier Airlines
Encyclopedia
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
airline
Airline
An airline provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines lease or own their aircraft with which to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for mutual benefit...
that was established in 1983. They flew their first scheduled service to Great Barrier Island
Great Barrier Island
Great Barrier Island is a large island of New Zealand, situated to the north-east of central Auckland in the outer Hauraki Gulf. With an area of it is the fourth-largest island of New Zealand's main chain of islands, with its highest point, Mount Hobson, rising...
in December 1983, departing from Ardmore Airport, an airport three nautical miles southeast of Manurewa
Manurewa
Manurewa is the southernmost major suburb of Manukau City, one of the four cities that make up the metropolitan area of Auckland in the North Island of New Zealand. It is located 6km south of the Manukau City Centre, and 26km southeast of the Auckland CBD....
in Auckland
Auckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
.
The head office is located at the Air New Zealand Domestic Terminal at Auckland International Airport
Auckland International Airport
Auckland Airport is the largest and busiest airport in New Zealand with over 13 million passengers a year, expected to more than double by 2025...
in Mangere
Mangere
Māngere is one of the larger suburbs in South Auckland, in northern New Zealand.The suburb is located on flat land at the northeastern shore of the Manukau Harbour, to the northwest of the centre of Manukau city and 15 kilometres south of Auckland city centre...
, with an additional office in the Terminal Building of the North Shore Aerodrome
North Shore Aerodrome
North Shore Aerodrome sometimes also called Dairy Flat airfield, is a small, uncontrolled aerodrome located south southwest of Silverdale, near Auckland in New Zealand's North Island.- Operational Information :*Lighting...
in Dairy Flat
Dairy Flat
Dairy Flat is a rural district 8 km south of Orewa beach in the North Island of New Zealand, 28 km north of central Auckland. Until the early 1990s most of the district was in dairy farms of 40 to 60 hectares , but with the growth of Auckland City and the extension of the Northern...
.
Great Barrier now operate out of Auckland Airport, North Shore Aerodrome, Great Barrier Aerodrome
Great Barrier Aerodrome
-Operational information:*Bitumen runway strength: ESWL 2100*Grass runway strength: ESWL 1230**AGA*NDB 274 GB**Lighting*Emergency PAL strobe approach lighting Runway 28...
, Kaitaia and Whangarei Airport
Whangarei Airport
Whangarei Aerodrome is a small airport 4NM to the south east of Whangarei city, in the suburb of Onerahi, on the east coast of Northland on the North Island, New Zealand.-History:...
s. The company employs more than twenty-five staff and operates a fleet of ten aircraft. They also once operated a subsidiary company, Air Coromandel, which ceased operations approx. 2003.
Fleet
- 3 Britten-Norman TrislanderBritten-Norman Trislander*LIAT*Montserrat Air Services*Air Queensland*Eagle Airways*Aero Services*Cayman Airways*TAVINA*Vision Air*Bali Int. Air Service*Trans Jamaican Airlines*Aero Cozumel*Great Barrier Airlines*Aero Taxi Intl*Aviones de Panama...
(Plus one in storage) - 3 Britten-Norman IslanderBritten-Norman IslanderThe Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander is a 1960s British light utility aircraft, regional airliner and cargo aircraft designed and originally manufactured by Britten-Norman of the United Kingdom. The Islander is one of the best-selling commercial aircraft types produced in Europe. Although designed in...
- 1 Piper Cherokee SixPiper Cherokee Six-External links:* *...
(Was 2 - 1 destroyed in crash (see below)) - 1 Partenavia P.68Partenavia P.68-See also:...
- 1 Piper PA-31-350 ChieftainPiper PA-31 NavajoThe Piper PA-31 Navajo is a family of cabin-class, twin-engine aircraft designed and built by Piper Aircraft for the general aviation market, most using Lycoming engines. It was also licence-built in a number of Latin American countries. Targeted at small-scale cargo and feeder liner operations and...
- 1 Piper PA-31 NavajoPiper PA-31 NavajoThe Piper PA-31 Navajo is a family of cabin-class, twin-engine aircraft designed and built by Piper Aircraft for the general aviation market, most using Lycoming engines. It was also licence-built in a number of Latin American countries. Targeted at small-scale cargo and feeder liner operations and...
Former fleet:
- 1 GAF N24A NomadGAF NomadThe GAF Nomad is a twin-engine turboprop, high-winged, "short take off and landing" aircraft . It was designed and built by the Australian Government Aircraft Factories at Fishermens Bend, Melbourne. Major users of the design have included the Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia, the...
- 2 Cessna 172Cessna 172The Cessna 172 Skyhawk is a four-seat, single-engine, high-wing fixed-wing aircraft. First flown in 1955 and still in production, more Cessna 172s have been built than any other aircraft.-Design and development:...
- 1 de Havilland Australia DHA-3 DroverDe Havilland Australia DHA-3 DroverThe de Havilland Australia DHA-3 Drover is a small transport aircraft that was built by de Havilland Australia in the 1940s and 1950s. The aircraft had some similarities with the two-engine British-built de Havilland Dove but used a trimotor configuration.-Design and development:Design work on the...
- 1 Piper AztecPiper Aztec-Accidents and incidents:*On 18 April 1974, Aztec G-AYDE was involved in a ground collision with BAC One-Eleven G-AXMJ at London Luton Airport after the pilot of the Aztec entered the active runway without clearance. He was killed and his passenger was injured...
(Leased) - 1 Cessna 206 (Leased)
- 1 DHC Twin Otter
Competition
It has been in a long-running commercial battle with its main local competitor Great Barrier Xpress Mountain Air (with the Great Barrier division of Mountain AirMountain Air (New Zealand)
Mountain Air is a scenic flight operation founded in 1988 and is based at the Chateau Airfield on the edge of the Tongariro National Park Dual World Heritage area...
now sold off and operating separately as Fly My Sky), which it claims has at times used methods like registering the name 'Great Barrier Air' for its own operations (something that was later forbidden by a legal injunction, as it was too close to Great Barrier Airlines own name). The competition between the two airlines is considered as one of the main reasons for the relatively low flight prices, which as of January 2008 remained almost exactly at 1998 prices, despite a trebling of aviation fuel prices in the nine years of competition between the two airlines.
Incidents and accidents
In 2001, on a courier flight, an airplane of the company carried out a forced landing, after an apparent double engine failure on a flight to WhangareiWhangarei
Whangarei, pronounced , is the northernmost city in New Zealand and the regional capital of Northland Region. Although commonly classified as a city, it is officially part of the Whangarei District, administered by the Whangarei District Council a local body created in 1989 to administer both the...
. The pilot escaped with only minor injuries, though extensive damage was done to the airplane.
On 5 July 2009, a Great Barrier three engine Trislander took off from Claris, Great Barrier Island
Great Barrier Island
Great Barrier Island is a large island of New Zealand, situated to the north-east of central Auckland in the outer Hauraki Gulf. With an area of it is the fourth-largest island of New Zealand's main chain of islands, with its highest point, Mount Hobson, rising...
on a regularly scheduled flight to Auckland. About five minutes after take-off the plane lost the propeller assembly from the right engine. The propeller assembly struck and extensively damaged the fuselage, removing a passenger door and shattering a window. Without penetrating the cabin itself, the propeller assembly pushed insulation and cabin paneling inward.
The pilot returned to Claris and landed. Three of the 10 passengers sustained minor injuries from the broken window and cabin paneling. Investigation by the New Zealand Transit Accident Investigation Commission revealed that the propeller assembly had separated from the engine crankshaft due to undetected corrosion on the crankshaft flange. Corrosion pitting on the flange had weakened fatigue resistance and triggered cracking. Two of the six fracture surfaces on the flange appeared to be relatively old.
Great Barrier records indicated that the engine had 162 hours of operating time left before an overhaul was required. The engine had been bought by Great Barrier from Indonesia. The service records provided by the previous owner showed that the engine had been operated for 47 hours between the time of the last overhaul and the Great Barrier purchase. After the accident, the log book for the aircraft on which the engine had previously been mounted was examined. Instead of the 47 hours the engine documents indicated, the aircraft log showed the engine had served about 440 hours of operating time between the previous overhaul and the sale to Great Barrier. At the time of the accident, the engine had accrued 230 operating hours past the scheduled overhaul time. Safety recommendations made after this accident included the need to scrutinize the records of all airplane components acquired overseas, and the need to periodically inspect similar engines for corrosion on the crankshaft flanges.
On 29 September 2009, a Great Barrier Piper Cherokee Six took off from Claris, Great Barrier Island
Great Barrier Island
Great Barrier Island is a large island of New Zealand, situated to the north-east of central Auckland in the outer Hauraki Gulf. With an area of it is the fourth-largest island of New Zealand's main chain of islands, with its highest point, Mount Hobson, rising...
on a scheduled flight to Auckland. The aircraft crashed shortly after departure due to wind-shear, premature retraction of flap and poor consideration of the aircraft's performance at near Maximum Take-Off Weight by the pilot, and limited/poor escape manoeuvre options from the runway selected. The aircraft was destroyed, the pilot and one passenger moderately injured (still recovering as of September 2010) and the other four occupants suffered minor injuries.