Freedom Air Freedom Air Freedom Air was Air New Zealand Group's low-cost airline which operated from December 1995 to March 2008. It ran scheduled passenger services from New Zealand to Australia and Fiji and charter services within New Zealand. Its main base was Auckland Airport. The airline was established in 1995 as a response to the commencement of discount services between Australia and New Zealand by Kiwi Airlines and started operations on 8 December 1995 with a single Boeing 757. It was formed as South Pacific Air Charters by Mount Cook Airline. By 2004 its fleet had expanded to five Boeing 737-300
Canadian Pacific Air Lines DC-8. Closer to home, non-stop Boeing 737-200 service from Vancouver to San Francisco was being flown by 1970 followed by non-stop Boeing 727-100 service from Vancouver to Los Angeles by the mid 1970s. Also during the mid 1970s, CP Air was operating stretched Douglas DC-8-63 jetliners (which the airline called the Super DC-8 "Spacemaster") on the Vancouver-Honolulu-Nandi-Sydney route twice a week. Service to New Zealand resumed in 1985 along with non-stop flights from Vancouver to Hong Kong, and in 1986 CP Air became the first North American airline with a non-stop flight between North America and Mainland China with a