Were The Friendships Freighted to NZ as Kits?

[Dave Homewood]

I would have thought the Fokker F-27 Friendships operated by Air New Zealand would have been ferried by air to New Zealand but this article from The Press has me scratching my head. The date was the 26th of July 1978:

Fokker deal near agreement

PA Auckland

Air New Zealand is nearing agreement with the Dutch aircraft firm of Fokker for the assembly in New Zealand of Friendship airliners. The project, if pursued, would mean the saving of millions of dollars in foreign exchange. The deal could be expanded to include maritime reconnaissance versions of the Friendship for the Royal New Zealand Air Force, as well as the replacement Friendships which will soon be required by Air New Zealand.

Both the airline and Fokker consider the proposal to assemble completely knocked down Friendships at Christchurch is feasible. The main detail still to be hammered out is the point of production at which the aircraft would come off the Fokker line in the Netherlands and how much foreign exchange would be saved. Fokker will send a senior executive to New Zealand in September to work towards agreement on these points.

"We are not interested unless we can cut the price to us from Fokker by at least $1M an aircraft," said Air New Zealand’s general manager, technical, (Captain A. C. Kenning) in Auckland. A Friendship costs about $4.5 M.

Air New Zealand is studying replacement contenders for both its international fleet and for a fleet which would serve domestic trunk routes as well as some regional Pacific routes. The long-haul contenders are the existing DC10 30 series, a stretched drawing-board version of the DC10, and the Boeing 747. The aircraft being studied for domestic and regional use are in 170 to 190-seat range.

The main contenders are the Douglas DC9 series 80, the Boeing family of new jets based on the wide-bodied 767 and the narrow-bodied 757, and the new B10 version of the European Airbus wide-bodied aircraft.

In addition, the newly announced B.A.C. 146 has come into the field as a short-haul contender. Seats 70 to 100 passengers, five or six abreast and is intended as a replacement for twin turbo-prop aircraft.

[ZacYates]

The NAC book by Layne et al should cover it - I'll hunt down my copy.

EDIT: they were ferried *deep breath) Rome-Athens-Damascus-Karachi-Delhi-Calcutta-Bangkok-Zamboonago[sic]-Davao-Divak-Darwin-Mt Isa-Brisbane-Norfolk Is. (Waugh, Layne McConnell pg251)

[Dave Homewood]

We are talking Air New Zealand's new Friendships, not NAC's ones from the previous decade- did you take that into account?

[planewriting]

"Layne et al" commenting; No, it never happened. All the Fokker Friendship aircraft, regardless of operator, which operated in New Zealand, flew from their source to New Zealand.

[Dave Homewood]

Thanks for confirming Peter. And Thanks Zac too.

Did Air New Zealand crews ferry them, or did Fokker crews do that?

[camtech]

I can recall some discussion around Friendships being assembled in NZ. As stated in the article, the plan was to ship incomplete aircraft to NZ assemble and outfit them here then on-sell them in the Asia/Pacific area.

[Dave Homewood]

Oh wow that could have been an interesting venture.

[camtech]

My understanding that the problem that sunk the deal was the price.

[Dave Homewood]

Their idea of knocking a million dollars off each aircraft did seem ludicrous. Especially when they were dealing with the Dutch who are not known for giving out bargains.

[ZacYates]

Sept 30, 2022 12:24:39 GMT 12 Dave Homewood said:

We are talking Air New Zealand's new Friendships, not NAC's ones from the previous decade- did you take that into account?

I did not, my apologies.