Mechanics Bay landed in Mechanics Bay, which was the centre of international aviation for New Zealand until the 1950s. Even after the construction of Auckland International Airport at Mangere in the 1960s, Mechanics Bay was still used by flying boats to the Pacific Islands, e.g. for the "Coral Route" to Fiji. From 1962 to 1989, Mechanics Bay was home to first Tourist Air Travel, then Mount Cook Airline then Sea Bee Air operating a fleet of Grumman Goose, Grumman Widgeon and Grumman Turbo Goose amphibian aircraft for regular scheduled passenger and freight services to the islands of the Hauraki Gulf (particularly Great
Hamilton Airport (New Zealand) airport became a terminal for Trans Tasman air routes, with charter flights provided on Boeing 727s by Kiwi International Airlines of New Zealand (not to be confused with the United States-based Kiwi International Air Lines) which served Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. New Zealand's Kiwi went bankrupt in 1996, but by that time Freedom Air had begun flying the same routes with Boeing 737 aircraft. They also, briefly, operated flights to Nadi, Fiji, in 2005. Freedom Air ultimately decided to make Hamilton International Airport their company hub until parent company Air New Zealand closed the airline down on 30 March 2008