Virgin Australia Airlines (NZ)
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| Founded | 2003 | ||||||
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| Commenced operations | 29 January 2004 | ||||||
| Ceased operations | June 2020 | ||||||
| Hubs | Auckland | ||||||
| Secondary hubs | Christchurch | ||||||
| Focus cities | |||||||
| Frequent-flyer program | Velocity Rewards | ||||||
| Alliance | Air New Zealand (formerly) | ||||||
| Fleet size | 9 | ||||||
| Destinations | 16 | ||||||
| Parent company | Virgin Australia Holdings | ||||||
| Headquarters | Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand | ||||||
| Key people |
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| Website | virginaustralia | ||||||
Virgin Australia Airlines (NZ) Limited, formerly Pacific Blue Airlines (NZ) Limited, was an airline based in New Zealand. It was established as the New Zealand subsidiary of Australian airline Virgin Blue (now Virgin Australia). It was a fully owned subsidiary of Virgin Australia Holdings. It was renamed Virgin Australia Airlines (NZ) Ltd in December 2011 when its parent company decided to bring all its airlines under the one banner.
It was based at Christchurch and Auckland and operated air services between New Zealand and Australia as well as the Pacific Islands. It also operated services on behalf of Virgin Samoa (formerly known as Polynesian Blue).
The airline has brought all its flying under its parent VA Air Operating Certificate. The final New Zealand registered Pacific Blue aircraft ZK-PBL finished up flying 13 March 2015 as VA161 AKL-BNE, bringing a visible end to Pacific Blue and being renamed to Virgin Australia NZ (VANZ). With the withdrawal of ZK-PBL, the New Zealand register connection ended after 11 years of aircraft on the New Zealand register from 23 January 2004 to 14 March 2015.