She said her love of flying emerged when she travelled to see her grandparents.
A school guidance counsellor told her to ditch her dreams of being a pilot, but her mother supported her.
“The best advice I ever got given is: don’t do it for the money.”
The event marked Boeing’s delivery of its 200th 737-800BCF (Boeing Converted Freighter).
Formerly with Virgin Australia, the aircraft, now named Florence, was converted in China over several months.
It means Texel’s New Zealand operation now has three aircraft and seven of this type in Australasia.
Texel said two New Zealand aircraft were based in Auckland and one in Christchurch.
Two are under contract to NZ Post and Freightways.
The aircraft can take 11 unit load devices (ULD) with a payload of about 23 tonnes.
The airline has transported animals, music band equipment and a variety of fresh produce and e-commerce cargo.
The airline has two “FlexCombi” aircraft which can carry passengers and cargo on the upper deck, and the bulkhead moves up and down the aircraft.
Minister for Regional Development Shane Jones said the new aircraft should help boost exports.
“As the minister who’s had to shell out dough around the regions to pay for infrastructure and to ensure that we keep our planes in the air, we need to ensure that our regulatory framework is fit for purpose to grow our economy,” Jones said.
“If we do not grow our economy, if we do not take the resources, the produce, the regional product out of our beautiful nation and move it quickly into areas where we can earn more money, we are going to stutter and we’re going to dwarf the development of our nation.”
He said the country should celebrate the success of pioneers in the commercial sector.
Minister of Revenue Simon Watts said it was good to have Boeing representatives in the country.
“This is a sign and signal of not only Boeing and Texel, but it’s a testament of trust in the growth of the economy,”
Texel Air founder John Chisholm said months of work and planning went into the conversion.
“We take it to China and it’s converted into a freighter and we manage that process and have an on-site rep.
“Then the aircraft comes out of the factory and then we paint it and then we fly it to to wherever and we just do a last minute check on it.”
He said Florence left China in mid-September.
“We put the decals on in an Air New Zealand hangar last night so that was the last piece of the puzzle.”
He said Texel’s clients were New Zealand Post, Freightways and Team Global Express.
“We provide the aircraft and we provide an on-time performance of around 99%,” Chisholm said.
“On top of that, we use the aircraft for charters … We did a charter recently from Australia to Bali for example and we’ve done charters to Fiji.”
He said the aircraft was worth about US$26 million ($46.3m) but engines were expensive at the moment.
The engines cost US$9m to US$10m. “It’s hard to get engines, it’s just virtually impossible, but Boeing are putting out, I think, 47 new Maxes a month at the moment,” he said referring to the Boeing 737 Max.
“There is a shortage of of engines, so that’s our biggest problem, and that’s across all the major manufacturers.”
He said volatile fuel prices were an issue and it was difficult to anticipate how that situation might evolve.
He told the Herald Texel was getting another aircraft in a few months.
“We didn’t announce it tonight, but we have another one coming in January. I started working on that probably a couple of weeks ago.
“It’s going through conversion in China at the moment. It’ll be out of the factory at the end of December, but that was a tough aircraft to find.”
Texel worked with BBAM Aircraft Leasing & Management to acquire the 737.
“They have some 550 aircraft and they are buying aircraft at the moment from Southwest Airlines, the 737-800s.
“So we’ll work with them to try and convert some … You don’t know where they’re going to be, but you’ve got to hunt, you’ve got to look after yourself and hunt them down,” he added.
John Weekes is a business journalist covering aviation. He also has experience covering consumer affairs, crime, politics and courts.
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