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) operating its own full service instead. By then, the Airbus A320 was being operated. When passenger numbers dropped to an unsustainable level in August 2010, Air New Zealand ceased services to Australia. Virgin Australia attempted to fill the need for a trans Tasman service later that year with twice-weekly Boeing 737-800 flights to Brisbane; however, passenger numbers remained low and Virgin Australia ended flights on 27 October 2012. No further international flights have been made from the airport since that date. Hamilton Airport is home to the New Zealand Training Centre of CTC Aviation. CTC is a British flight training