Mount Cook Airline

Former regional airline based in Christchurch, New Zealand

Mount Cook Airline was a regional airline based in Christchurch, New Zealand. Formerly part of the Mount Cook Group and latterly a subsidiary of Air New Zealand, it operated scheduled services throughout the country under the Air New Zealand Link brand. In December 2019, the brand name was retired with all services operated under the Air New Zealand banner.

Flying resumed in 1952 using an Auster J1 A Autocrat, registration ZK BDX (since preserved, formerly inside the terminal of Queenstown Airport now at the Mount Cook Hermitage Hotel Edmund Hillary Centre). In 1954, NZ Aero Transport Company was reformed as Mount Cook Air Services Ltd, specialising in scenic flights, agricultural work and rescue missions. Henry Wigley solved the problem of landing in the Tasman, Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers by attaching retractable skis (designed and made in the company's vehicle workshop) to the Auster, and landed on the snow of Tasman Glacier. This is how the Ski Plane operation started, aimed at taking tourists to skifields and glaciers in ski equipped light aircraft. The Mount Cook Group operated bus services, trucking, skifields and built an airfield at Mount Cook to bring in the growing number of visitors to the Southern Alps. Scheduled services for Mount Cook Airline began on 6 November 1961 between Christchurch, Mount Cook, Cromwell and Te Anau with a 26 seater Douglas DC 3. At this stage Queenstown was not certified for DC 3 operations and passengers were bussed from Cromwell to Queenstown. On 1 November 1963 the service to Cromwell was extended to Dunedin on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and from 3 November 1963 to Invercargill three days a week. The first scheduled flight into Queenstown was operated by DC 3 ZK BKD on 4 February 1964. The airline opened negotiations with NZ Tourist Air Travel, which operated air charter and air taxi services using amphibious aircraft, about the possibility of a merger. A bid was made and finally accepted on 31 December 1967 with the company becoming part of Mount Cook Airlines on 1 January 1968. Mount Cook Airline was one of New Zealand's tourism pioneers opening up the tourist trail of Rotorua through to Christchurch, Mount Cook and Queenstown. For almost 30 years, it operated a fleet of Hawker Siddeley HS 748s across regional tourist routes in New Zealand. The first HS748 to arrive in NZ was ZK CWJ. Its first flight was from Christchurch to Timaru and onto Oamaru on 25 October 1968. After a long evaluation study, the first of the new ATR 72 200s arrived in October 1995 as the chosen replacement of the HS 748s. They in turn were updated to the ATR 72 500 type in 2000

In June 2001, Air New Zealand Group added extra capacity on domestic routes by introducing four BAe 146s to supplement the ATRs. These aircraft were taken from the failed Qantas New Zealand franchise. A temporary measure, they retired the following year after six extra Boeing 737 300s were added to the mainline fleet. Air New Zealand purchased part of the Mount Cook Group in the 1980s after Henry Wigley's death, increased to 30% on 5 December 1983, then another 47% in October 1985 after gaining approval on 18 July that year; and the remainder on 18 April 1991. On 9 December 2019, the airline was merged into the mainline Air New Zealand fleet and ceased to exist. Mount Cook Airline had 378 employees (as at March 2007).

In April 2010, parent airline Air New Zealand announced that it was moving the ATR 72 500 and ATR 72 600 heavy maintenance work away from Mount Cook Airline's home of Christchurch Airport to Nelson. Air Nelson's maintenance base would take over all ATR 72 500/600 heavy maintenance work from November 2010.

The airline's symbol was the Mount Cook Lily which was displayed on the tails of its aeroplanes prior to the integration with the Air New Zealand link brand in the mid 1990s. At this stage, the flower was relegated to a spot just below the tail, before vanishing totally in the early 2000s. However, it made a return in 2012, appearing towards the front of Mount Cook's ATR 72 600 aircraft. The new logo was a much simplified flower, featuring six separate petals rather than the former layered specimen.

Most of Mount Cook Airline's ATR 72's are still in operation, either with Air New Zealand or sold off to other operators. Below is a list of other known aircraft that flew in Mount Cook colours. + Surviving MCA Aircraft Type Registration Location/Operator Notes Auster J1 A Autocrat ZK BDX Located at Mount Cook Hermitage Hotel Edmund Hillary Centre De Havilland DH.89B Dominie ZK AKY Located at Croydon Aviation Heritage Centre, Mandeville Painted in Mount Cook Airlines blue, but never wore the Mount Cook Lilly Douglas DC 3 Skyliner ZK BKD Located at Smash Palace Bar, Gisborne Ex Australian National Airways and NAC Douglas DC 3 Viewmaster ZK CAW Located at McDonald's, Taupō Ex Australian National Airways Hawker Siddeley HS 748 ZK CWJ Located in Dhaka, Bangladesh Stored, last used as freight aircraft