Airwork is an aviation business based in

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. The Airwork Group is New Zealand's largest general aviation company. It focuses on fixed wing maintenance, leasing, and operations working with private and public entities on aviation operations, with a fleet of 737 freighters. It operates freight services in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

for Toll Priority,

Qantas Qantas ( ), formally Qantas Airways Limited, is the flag carrier of Australia, and the largest airline by fleet size, international flights, and international destinations in Australia and List of largest airlines in Oceania, Oceania. A foundi ...

and

FedEx FedEx Corporation, originally known as Federal Express Corporation, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate holding company specializing in Package delivery, transportation, e-commerce, and ...

. It operates night postal services for

New Zealand Post NZ Post (), shortened from New Zealand Post, is a state-owned enterprise responsible for providing most postal services in New Zealand. The New Zealand Post Office, a government agency, provided postal, banking, and telecommunications servi ...

and Freightways through a joint venture agreement. Its main fixed wing base is

Auckland Airport Auckland Airport is an international airport serving Auckland, the most populous city of New Zealand. It is the largest and busiest airport in the country, with over 18.7 million passengers served in the year ended December 2024. The airpor ...

. The Australian freighter fleet has its headquarters at

Brisbane Airport Brisbane Airport is an international airport serving Brisbane, the capital of the Australian state of Queensland. The airport services 31 airlines flying to 50 domestic and 29 international destinations, total amounting to more than 22.7 mill ...

, with operational bases in Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, and Darwin.

History

The Airwork group is one of New Zealand's oldest aviation companies. Airwork was first established in 1936 by aircraft engineers Charles and Arthur (Bill) Brazier as an aircraft maintenance company originally assembling Tiger Moth biplanes at Rongatai Airfield. As the industry developed, Airwork moved into the engine overhaul business and in the 1970s became a listed company in which Brierley Investments built up a substantial shareholding. The business was purchased in 1984 by Hugh Jones and Alan Hubbard, and in 1988 Hugh Jones took control of the whole business. Airwork Holdings Limited was listed on the New Zealand Stock Exchange (NZX) in 2013 with the code AWK at an IPO price of $2.60 per share. Airwork's profit has increased 52% in the year ending 30 June 2014. In October 2016, Chinese Zhejiang Rifa Holding Group offered $5.40 per share for 75 percent of the business. The offer closed in early March 2017 with 94.7 percent shareholder acceptance. On 27 September 2017, Rifa Jair Company, a unit of Zhejian Rifa Holding group Co, made a full takeover offer for all fully paid ordinary shares of Airwork Holdings at a 21 percent premium to the closing price on 26 September 2017. In January 2020 Airwork began services across the Tasman with the start of Auckland to Sydney flying in conjunction with Fedex. In December 2022 Airwork sold its helicopter business to Salus Aviation.

Fleet

Airwork NZ Boeing 737-300F BNE Prasertwit

As of January 2020 the Airwork fleet consists of the following aircraft:

Incidents and accidents

*On 26 November 1993, two aircraft operated by Airwork, under contract to the New Zealand Police, collided in mid-air over central Auckland. The collision of the Aérospatiale TwinStar helicopter and Piper Archer fixed wing aeroplane resulted in the deaths of all four occupants. *On 2 May 2005 a Fairchild SA227-AC Metro III registration ZK-POA broke up in flight 6 km East of Stratford. The flight was a NZ Post service from Auckland to Blenheim. The crash killed the two occupants. * On 26 January 2014 a Boeing 737-300F ZK-TLC conducting a Toll freight service from Brisbane was involved in an incident while landing at Henderson field, Honiara in the Solomons Islands. The right landing gear collapsed during the roll out. None of the three crew were hurt in the incident.

References

External links

Airwork Group
{{Airlines of New Zealand Airlines of New Zealand Airlines established in 1984 New Zealand companies established in 1984