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There are, or have been, about half a dozen airlines known as Freedom Air or Freedom Airlines. Between the mid-1990s and late noughties, a low-cost carrier based in New Zealand adopted the name. Formally known as Freedom Air International but referred to as Freedom Air, the airline connected New Zealand with Australia and Fiji.
Freedom Air operated as Air New Zealand’s low-cost airline for 13 years. Photo: SuperJumbo via Wikimedia Commons
An early entrant into Oceania’s low-cost airline market
Like many full-service legacy airlines who have waded into the waters of low-cost flying, Freedom Air was Air New Zealand’s attempt to capture a slice of the low-cost pie. Like many full-service airlines who dived in, Air New Zealand’s foray ultimately failed. However, Freedom Air did fly for 13 years between 1995 and 2008. Air New Zealand gave it a red hot go.