Competition, Route Expansion and Fleet Changes
By the end of 1995, Air New Zealand had established Freedom Air via its subsidiary Mount Cook Airline and operated in direct competition with Kiwi, offering the same routes and a similar fare structure. In early 1996, Kiwi replaced its Boeing 727 with a leased Boeing 757 from the UK-based company Air 2000, later replaced by a Boeing 737. Freedom Air also operated a Boeing 737. Kiwi also added a second aircraft, an Airbus A320, and expanded its network to include Christchurch and the Australian city of Melbourne. By September 1996, trans-Tasman fares reached historic lows of $199 for return tickets between Melbourne/Christchurch and Melbourne/Hamilton.
Both Kiwi and Freedom operated with ad-hoc liveries based on those of their lessors; Kiwi used a stylised Kiwi bird, while Freedom Air used a stylised sun.
Read more about this topic: Kiwi Travel International Airlines
Famous quotes containing the words route, expansion and/or fleet:
“In the mountains the shortest route is from peak to peak, but for that you must have long legs. Aphorisms should be peaks: and those to whom they are spoken should be big and tall of stature.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“The fundamental steps of expansion that will open a person, over time, to the full flowering of his or her individuality are the same for both genders. But men and women are rarely in the same place struggling with the same questions at the same age.”
—Gail Sheehy (20th century)
“They ... fleet the time carelessly, as they did in the golden world.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)