Air New Zealand farewells last Saab

Media Release
24 September 2007

Air New Zealand farewells last Saab

Air New Zealand farewells one of the workhorses of its regional fleet today.

The last Air Nelson Saab will make its final flight from Wellington to Nelson today.

Air Nelson General Manager John Hambleton says the 22 Saabs flown over the past 17 years played a critical role in the growth of regional airline services.

“The Saabs carried around 12 million customers on more than 500,000 flights to 14 regional destinations. At one point in our operations we had the fifth largest Saab fleet in the world. These were a remarkably reliable aircraft, with performance standards far in excess of the international average,” Mr Hambleton says.

Air Nelson’s Saabs have been replaced by the fleet of 23 larger and more economical Q300 aircraft, which will see the regional carrier’s capacity increase by 100%.

ENDS

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