She said her love of flying emerged when she travelled to see her grandparents.<\/p>\n
A school guidance counsellor told her to ditch her dreams of being a pilot, but her mother supported her.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe best advice I ever got given is: don\u2019t do it for the money.\u201d<\/p>\n
The event marked Boeing\u2019s delivery of its 200th 737-800BCF (Boeing Converted Freighter).<\/p>\n
Formerly with Virgin Australia, the aircraft, now named Florence, was converted in China over several months.<\/p>\n
It means Texel\u2019s New Zealand operation now has three aircraft and seven of this type in Australasia.<\/p>\n
Texel said two New Zealand aircraft were based in Auckland and one in Christchurch.<\/p>\n
Two are under contract to NZ Post and Freightways.<\/p>\n
The aircraft can take 11 unit load devices (ULD) with a payload of about 23 tonnes.<\/p>\n
The airline has transported animals, music band equipment and a variety of fresh produce and e-commerce cargo.<\/p>\n
The airline has two \u201cFlexCombi\u201d aircraft which can carry passengers and cargo on the upper deck, and the bulkhead moves up and down the aircraft.<\/p>\n
Minister for Regional Development Shane Jones said the new aircraft should help boost exports.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs the minister who\u2019s 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,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf 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\u2019re going to dwarf the development of our nation.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the country should celebrate the success of pioneers in the commercial sector.<\/p>\n
Minister of Revenue Simon Watts said it was good to have Boeing representatives in the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a sign and signal of not only Boeing and Texel, but it\u2019s a testament of trust in the growth of the economy,\u201d<\/p>\n
Texel Air founder John Chisholm<\/a> said months of work and planning went into the conversion.<\/p>\n \u201cWe take it to China and it\u2019s converted into a freighter and we manage that process and have an on-site rep.<\/p>\n \u201cThen 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.\u201d<\/p>\n He said Florence left China in mid-September.<\/p>\n \u201cWe put the decals on in an Air New Zealand hangar last night so that was the last piece of the puzzle.\u201d<\/p>\n He said Texel\u2019s clients were New Zealand Post, Freightways and Team Global Express.<\/p>\n \u201cWe provide the aircraft and we provide an on-time performance of around 99%,\u201d Chisholm said.<\/p>\n \u201cOn top of that, we use the aircraft for charters … We did a charter recently from Australia to Bali for example and we\u2019ve done charters to Fiji.\u201d<\/p>\n He said the aircraft was worth about US$26 million ($46.3m) but engines were expensive at the moment.<\/p>\n The engines cost US$9m to US$10m. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to get engines, it\u2019s just virtually impossible, but Boeing are putting out, I think, 47 new Maxes a month at the moment,\u201d he said referring to the Boeing 737 Max.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is a shortage of of engines, so that\u2019s our biggest problem, and that\u2019s across all the major manufacturers.\u201d<\/p>\n He said volatile fuel prices were an issue and it was difficult to anticipate how that situation might evolve.<\/p>\n He told the Herald Texel was getting another aircraft in a few months.<\/p>\n \u201cWe didn\u2019t announce it tonight, but we have another one coming in January. I started working on that probably a couple of weeks ago.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s going through conversion in China at the moment. It\u2019ll be out of the factory at the end of December, but that was a tough aircraft to find.\u201d<\/p>\n Texel worked with BBAM Aircraft Leasing & Management to acquire the 737.<\/p>\n \u201cThey have some 550 aircraft and they are buying aircraft at the moment from Southwest Airlines, the 737-800s.<\/p>\n \u201cSo we\u2019ll work with them to try and convert some … You don\u2019t know where they\u2019re going to be, but you\u2019ve got to hunt, you\u2019ve got to look after yourself and hunt them down,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n