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The history of Air New Zealand, the national carrier of New Zealand, began when the amalgamated East Coast Airways and Cook Strait Airways began operations in January 1936 as Union Airways of N.Z. Ltd, the country's first major airline. Union Airways was the sole New Zealand aviation partner in Tasman Empire Airways Limited (TEAL), which made its inaugural flight in 1940. The New Zealand Government bought full ownership of TEAL in 1961 and the airline was renamed ''Air New Zealand'' in 1965. New Zealand's domestic airline, National Airways Corporation (NAC), was merged with Air New Zealand in 1978. Air New Zealand was privatised in 1989 but in the early 2000s (decade) it got in financial trouble and in 2001 the New Zealand Government took up 80% ownership in return for injecting NZ$885M. In November 2013, the National Government sold down its share in Air New Zealand from 73% to 53% as part of its controversial asset sales programme. ==Tasman Empire Airways Limited== (詳細はShort Empire flying boat ZK-AMA ''Aotearoa'' carrying ten passengers from Auckland to Sydney. It took around 7 hours 30 minutes to travel the 1345 miles. TEAL's first annual report, dated 31 March 1941, revealed that 130 trans-Tasman flights had been completed, 174,200 miles flown and 1461 passengers carried, with a profit of NZ£31,479. During WW2 TEAL undertook several special charter and reconnaissance flights to New Caledonia, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa and Hawaii to assist the war effort. In June 1944 TEAL crossed the Tasman Sea for the 1000th time. After World War II TEAL re-equipped, initially with Short Sandringham and later with Short Solent flying boats, and a former RNZAF PBY Catalina also being used for survey flights. TEAL's initial schedule of two weekly flights from Auckland to Sydney was soon expanded with departures from Wellington, and flights to Fiji were also added during the early years. In 1953 the Australian Government bought 50% of TEAL, with the New Zealand Government buying the rest. In 1954 TEAL added Douglas DC-6s from the defunct British Commonwealth Pacific Airlines (BCPA) to its fleet, and these replaced the outdated flying boats on most international services. The flying boat services ended in 1960 when Tahiti's airport opened. TEAL operated services between Auckland and Fiji to replace BCPA's service. In 1955 TEAL made its 10,000th trans-Tasman crossing. In 1959 TEAL again changed its fleet, replacing the DC6s with Lockheed L-188 Electra IIs. The turboprop aircraft was capable of carrying 71 passengers at nearly 400 miles per hour, and reduced the Auckland to Sydney flying time to 3 hours 50 minutes. In 1961 the New Zealand Government bought the Australian Government's half share, and on 1 April 1965 the airline was renamed ''Air New Zealand''. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「History of Air New Zealand」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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