Barrier Air


Barrier Air is a New Zealand airline that was established in 1983 by Jim Bergman as Great Barrier Airlines. The head office is located at the Domestic Terminal at Auckland Airport in Mangere, with additional offices in the terminal buildings at Great Barrier Aerodrome, Kaitaia Airport and North Shore Aerodrome.

History

The airline's initial fleet was one Cessna 172, one Cessna 206 and a vintage DHA3 Australian three engine Drover. Bergman flew the first scheduled service to Great Barrier Island on 2 December 1983, departing from Ardmore Airport, an airport three nautical miles southeast of Manurewa in Auckland, New Zealand. The company initially operated 3 flights a day via Auckland International onto Claris. In July 1984 the airline started flight to Okiwi airfield as well. The first Britten Norman Islander was introduced in December 1984. First flights to Whangarei from its Auckland base began in August 1987. The airline briefly served Waiheke island from August 1994 to April 1995. They also purchased a subsidiary company, Air Coromandel in 1995 which had sole commercial rights to Whitianga. In November 1996 Rotorua and Pahia were added to the network. Later this flight was extended down to Taupo in November 1998. A new aircraft type was added, the Britten Norman Trislander starting services on 24 December 2002. Since then three other Trislanders have served in the fleet.
In early 2015, coinciding with a change in management, and the purchase of an ex-Bering Air Cessna Grand Caravan, the name of the airline was changed from Great Barrier Airlines to Barrier Air.

Destinations

As of November 2018, Barrier Air operate the following routes:
From Auckland
From Claris, Great Barrier Island
From Kaitaia
Former fleet:
It has been in a long-running commercial battle with its main local competitor Great Barrier Xpress Mountain Air, which it claims has at times used methods like registering the name 'Great Barrier Air' for its own operations. The competition between the two airlines is considered as one of the main reasons for the relatively low flight prices, which as of January 2008 remained almost exactly at 1998 prices, despite a trebling of aviation fuel prices in the nine years of competition between the two airlines.