Pacific Blue Airlines
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| Pacific Blue Airlines | ||
|---|---|---|
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| IATA DJ |
ICAO PBN |
Callsign BLUEBIRD |
| Founded | 2003 | |
| Hubs | Christchurch International Airport Auckland International Airport |
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| Frequent flyer program | Velocity Rewards | |
| Fleet size | 7 (+1 order) | |
| Destinations | 11 | |
| Parent company | Virgin Blue Holdings Limited | |
| Headquarters | Christchurch, New Zealand | |
| Key people | ||
| Website: http://www.flypacificblue.com | ||
Pacific Blue Airlines (NZ) Limited is a New Zealand subsidiary of Australian airline Virgin Blue. Based in Christchurch, it currently operates low-fare air services within New Zealand, between New Zealand and Australia, and to the Pacific Islands. It also operates services on behalf of Polynesian Blue. Its New Zealand bases are Christchurch Airport and Auckland Airport.[1].
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[edit] History
The airline was established in 2003 and started operations in January 2004 with a service between Christchurch and Brisbane, Australia. Pacific Blue also operated Wellington to Sydney for three months, but after finding itself unable to break even on the route this service was cancelled in favour of less frequent services to Brisbane from Wellington. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Virgin Blue.[1]. The airline operates 108 services a week throughout Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific.
As of the first flight of 1st August 2007 (local date) the ICAO was changed from PBI to PBN. This was done in consultation with air traffic controllers to prevent confusion between the letter I and the number 1 in flight plans.
On 21 August, 2007, Pacific Blue announced their intention to begin domestic services in New Zealand. [2] Upon this announcement competitors dropped their lead-in fares by up to 30%.
Services from Auckland - Wellington, Christchurch - Wellington and Auckland - Christchurch began on November 12. Launch fares were made available for $9NZD(7.70Australian Dollars) on all routes.
[edit] Destinations
As of August 2007, Pacific Blue operates scheduled passenger flights to the following destinations:[3]
[edit] Fleet
Pacific Blue's fleet consists of the following aircraft as of November 2007:
| Aircraft | Total | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Boeing 737-800 | 7 |
1 aircraft on order |
[edit] Domestic services
Pacific Blue has launched domestic services in New Zealand. These services are operated using their fleet of Boeing 737-800 aircraft and were originally due to begin November 15 2007, although an announcement in mid-October pushed this forward to 12 November.
Pacific Blue has acquired two additional Boeing 737-800s from parent airline Virgin Blue's fleet, to enable the airline to operate New Zealand domestic services. Up to now Pacific Blue has only operated International flights from New Zealand to Australia and the Pacific Islands. The first routes are Auckland - Wellington, Auckland - Christchurch, and Wellington - Christchurch.
Pacific Blue will operate out of what were once the Ansett New Zealand domestic terminals at Auckland and Christchurch airports.
Pacific Blue has announced it will operate a midday service from Christchurch to Dunedin return beginning July 2008.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b "Directory: World Airlines", Flight International, 2007-04-10, p. 60.
- ^ Pacific Blue Begins New Domestic Services In New Zealand
- ^ Pacific Blue Route Map
[edit] External links
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