Air New Zealand Q300 Poster

Air Nelson first ordered the Dash 8 Q300 sometime in the early-mid 2000s (Can't find an exact date or year, but my guess would be around 2003-2004 ish, maybe late 2002). They took delivery of the first Dash 8 around 16 August 2005.

They initially ordered 17 aircraft, and in their order, they had options for a further 10, and also in addition, had options for 13 of the larger 70-seater Dash 8 Q400. Throughout the decade, they ordered a further 6 of the Q300s, and never ended up ordering the Q400s, presumably as it is too similar to their existing fleet of ATR 72s.

All 23 Dash 8 Q300s are still in service around New Zealand today. I discussed the future of the Q300s a lot here, which features ZK-NEG and its' year long grounding here: http://www.airline-e...w-zealand-q300/

ZK-NEB: 2005 deHavilland Canada/Bombardier Dash 8-Q311 | Air New Zealand | Currently: In service with Air New Zealand

ZK-NEK: 2006 deHavilland Canada/Bombardier Dash 8-Q311 | Air New Zealand | Currently: In service with Air New Zealand

ZK-NEM: 2006 deHavilland Canada/Bombardier Dash 8-Q311 | Air New Zealand | Currently: In service with Air New Zealand

ZK-NES: 2007 deHavilland Canada/Bombardier Dash 8-Q311 | Air New Zealand | Currently: In service with Air New Zealand

I have flown on all of the Q300s mentioned above!

Kiwi slang of the day: (The) wop wops | Meaning: Middle of nowhere, imagine like in the middle of the countryside with hills, forests, a couple of farms, y'know the average New Zealand countryside