Air Nelson

Air Nelson
IATA code :	NZ
ICAO code :	RLK
Call sign :	LINK
Founding:	1979
Seat:	Nelson , New Zealand
Turnstile :	Auckland Christchurch Nelson Wellington
Home airport :	Nelson
Alliance :	Star Alliance
Fleet size:	23
Aims:	national
Website:	www.airnelson.co.nz

Air Nelson is a New Zealand regional airline based in Nelson and based at Nelson Airport . It is a subsidiary of Air New Zealand and flies under its Air New Zealand Link umbrella brand .

history

Air Nelson was founded in 1979 by Robert Inglis and Nicki Smith and began operating in the same year. In 2002, like Mount Cook Airline , it was taken over by Air New Zealand .

By 2004 the fleet had grown to 17 Saab 340A . In October 2004, Air Nelson announced that it would replace its Saab fleet with De Havilland DHC-8-300 . The last Saab 340A was taken out of service in September 2007.

Destinations

Air Nelson operates regional flights to and from Auckland , Christchurch , Nelson and Wellington for its parent company Air New Zealand under the Air New Zealand Link brand .

fleet

Saab 340A of Air Nelson in 1999

As of March 2018, the Air Nelson fleet consists of 23 aircraft with an average age of 11.5 years and a total capacity of 1150 seats:

Aircraft type	number	ordered	Remarks	Seats
De Havilland DHC-8-300	23	-		50

Fairchild Swearingen Metro and Saab 340 aircraft have also been used in the past .

Incidents

Air Nelson has had no fatal incidents in its history, the only incident being an attempted aircraft hijacking on January 22, 1997 when a hijacker armed with a knife briefly took control of a Saab 340A . There were three men on the plane at the time. The police were able to persuade the man to give up.

See also

• List of airlines

Web links

Commons : Air Nelson  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Website of Air Nelson (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ch-Aviation, Air Nelson fleet as of March 25, 2018 (in English), accessed on March 25, 2018
2. ↑ Data on Air Nelson in the Aviation Safety Network , accessed on June 18, 2016.
3. ↑ Aircraft accident data and report of the aircraft hijacking of January 22, 1997 in the Aviation Safety Network (English)