Air Chathams

There are airlines you know for their size – and airlines you never forget because of a single aircraft type. Air Chathams belongs to the second kind. According to aviation chroniclers, the small family airline from New Zealand was the last company in the world to fly the Convair 580 in scheduled passenger service until 2021, and kept a Douglas DC-3 in the air until early 2025. Today the fleet is more modern, but no less exciting: Saab 340, ATR 72-500 and a Cessna for the short island hop to Pitt Island. Here you learn how to place, recognize and spot Air Chathams.

Air Chathams at a glance

Air Chathams is a New Zealand regional airline founded in 1984 by Craig and Marion Emeny and still run by the family today. It was founded to connect the remote island community of the Chathams. According to Air Chathams, the first flights carried live crayfish from Pitt Island via Chatham Island to Gisborne – with a Cessna Super Skymaster.

This freight business grew step by step into a scheduled operation. In 1991 scheduled passenger flights began from the Chathams to Wellington and Napier, and in 1993 Christchurch was added. Since 1996, Air Chathams has by its own account been the only airline connecting the islands with the New Zealand mainland. The managing director today is Duane Emeny.

The Chatham Islands lie about 800 kilometers east of the South Island in the middle of the Pacific. For the few hundred residents, the airline is a lifeline: it brings passengers, mail, groceries and spare parts and flies fish and seafood back to the mainland. It is exactly this mix of passenger and cargo operations that still shapes the fleet today.

Codes and callsign

• IATA code 3C: appears in the flight number, on tickets and departure boards.
• ICAO code CVA: used by air traffic control in the flight plan, and this is how the airline appears on most flight trackers.
• Callsign CHATHAM: this is how the crew identifies itself on the radio.

The fact that the ICAO code CVA doesn’t sound like “Chathams” has a simple reason: ICAO codes are also just identifiers and don’t have to match the name. If you look for Air Chathams on the tracker, it’s best to filter by CVA. How to read tracker data correctly is explained in the guide to flight tracking for spotters.

The fleet today: Saab, ATR and a Cessna

According to the airline’s website and the fleet overview on Wikipedia (as of 2025), Air Chathams operates around ten aircraft. Note that small fleets change quickly: individual aircraft are added or sold.

Type	Role	Seats	Spotter note
Saab 340A / 340B	Backbone of scheduled and cargo service	around 34–36	Several examples, some pure freighters
ATR 72-500	Chathams service at peak times, charter and tour groups	68	Two aircraft, ex Mount Cook Airline
Cessna 206	Island hop Chatham Island – Pitt Island	5	Only piston engine in the fleet
Aero Commander 690A	Aerial survey, charter	4	Rare in the regular scheduled picture

The Saab 340 is the airline’s most important aircraft today. ZK-CIY flew the first scheduled passenger flight with a Saab to the Chathams in March 2021. In 2023 more examples arrived from Australia, including the freighters ZK-CIW and ZK-CIX and the passenger aircraft ZK-CIT; ZK-CIW and ZK-CIT entered service in August 2024. The manufacturer is Saab of Sweden – on its website Air Chathams affectionately calls the Saab its “Swedish princess”.

The two ATR 72-500s come from Mount Cook Airline, the former turboprop subsidiary of Air New Zealand. ZK-MCO took over the Chathams route from the Convair in October 2020; for this it was modified so that it can also carry cargo and life rafts for the long stretch over water. The second ATR, ZK-MCU, flew its first rotation in December 2022. So the two ATR registrations still tell of their origin. You can find more about the manufacturer on the page about ATR.

The vintage era: Convair 580, Metro and DC-3

Anyone who knows the name Air Chathams usually thinks of the Convair. The Convair CV-580 is a converted piston-engine airliner from the 1950s that later received Allison turboprops. At Air Chathams it was the workhorse for the long route across the Pacific for decades: rugged, with large cargo capacity and well suited to the island runway.

The Convair fleet

Over the years several Convair 580s passed through the airline’s hands. According to the regional aviation chronicle 3rd Level New Zealand, ZK-CIB began the Chathams service in July 1996. In 2005 more examples followed from Canada, including ZK-CIE and ZK-CIF. ZK-CIB also flew the first scheduled flight to Norfolk Island on September 6, 2019. Added to these were freighters such as ZK-KFL, some of which were taken over from Air Freight NZ and brought fish from the islands.

The end in 2021

The COVID lockdown in March 2020 accelerated the farewell. ZK-KFL was parked in October 2020, ZK-CIE flew for the last time in April 2021. On July 23, 2021, ZK-CIB flew the last scheduled Convair passenger flight – according to 3rd Level New Zealand, the last scheduled Convair 580 passenger flight in the world. A final cargo flight with live crayfish followed in September 2021, before ZK-CIB was moved in 2022 to its new home at the National Toy and Transport Museum in Wānaka. How to plan such farewells deliberately is shown in the guide to farewell flights.

Metro and DC-3

Alongside the Convair, from the mid-1990s Air Chathams also used the slender Fairchild Swearingen Metro, including on the Auckland–Whakatāne route from 2015. The Metros went to Australia by 2024.

The most romantic chapter was written by the Douglas DC-3 ZK-AWP. From October 2015 it flew scheduled services to Whakatāne during the New Zealand summer. Because new safety requirements for runway areas made this harder from 2017, it switched to charter and sightseeing service, and at the end of 2019 it received a livery in the style of the former state airline NAC. In January and February 2025 it flew its last season and left New Zealand on February 8, 2025 for Darwin. The history of the type is told in the article on the Douglas DC-3.

How to recognize Air Chathams

At first glance the fleet looks like a mixed bag, because many aircraft were taken over second-hand. A few features still help you place them:

• Type mix: Saab 340 and ATR 72-500 are the types you see most often in scheduled service. In New Zealand domestic service Air New Zealand flies the newer ATR generation – so a 72-500 with CVA on the tracker is a good hint.
• Registration: Many Air Chathams aircraft carry the letter sequence ZK-CI… – an obvious shorthand for Chatham Islands. The ATR registrations ZK-MCO and ZK-MCU, on the other hand, still reveal their Mount Cook origin.
• Cargo operations: Some Saabs are pure freighters. Look for missing or covered cabin windows; more on this in the guide Recognizing freighters.

How to tell turboprops apart in general is shown in the guide Telling ATR, Dash 8 and other turboprops apart. For telling the ATR 72-500 from the 72-600, the pages on the ATR 72-500 and ATR 72-600 help you. If you want to identify vintage aircraft more reliably in general, the guide Recognizing historic aircraft helps.

Route network: islands and regions

The core of the network is the connections from Tuuta Airport (CHT) on Chatham Island to Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. The runway was extended to 1,850 meters and widened to 45 meters in 2024 with government funding. The Cessna 206 flies to Pitt Island on request – one of the shortest and most remote connections in New Zealand.

On the mainland, Air Chathams has mainly stepped in where Air New Zealand had withdrawn. So Auckland–Whakatāne was added in 2015, Auckland–Whanganui in 2016 and Auckland–Kāpiti Coast in 2018. Since 2014 the airline has also had an operations and maintenance base at Auckland Airport.

The network remains fluid. The route from Auckland to Norfolk Island, which Air Chathams served from September 2019, ended in April 2025. Air Chathams has also given up the Kāpiti Coast because of increased costs; according to reports, the last flight went at the end of July 2026. Since March 24, 2026 you can also book Air Chathams flights together with Air New Zealand flights through an interline partnership. Whakatāne was included at launch, and since August 2026 also Whanganui and the Chathams routes.

A look back: Chathams Pacific

From the late 2000s, the subsidiary Chathams Pacific operated domestic flights in the Kingdom of Tonga, including with the Convair 580. Scheduled flights in Tonga ended in March 2013.

Spotting Air Chathams

For most spotters from Europe, Air Chathams is a travel destination. The easiest place to meet the airline is Auckland, where it has its mainland base, as well as Wellington and Christchurch. Flight frequencies are low, often with only a few rotations per day – so plan your spotting visit precisely according to the schedule. How to evaluate arrival and departure schedules is covered in the guide Using departure and arrival boards.

For turboprops there is a photographic peculiarity: with too short an exposure time you freeze the propellers, and the aircraft looks like a model. How to make propeller motion visible is explained in the article Photographing propellers.

If you really want adventure, fly to the Chatham Islands yourself. There you are close to one of New Zealand’s most remote airports and see the airline’s entire island service. The usual rules apply there too when taking photos: only from publicly accessible areas, no drone near airports.

Common mix-ups

• Assuming every ATR in New Zealand belongs to Air New Zealand – an ATR 72-500 with CVA on the tracker belongs to Air Chathams.
• Thinking Air Chathams is an Air New Zealand subsidiary – it is an independent family business with an interline partnership.
• Still expecting the Convair in New Zealand – the last scheduled flight was in July 2021.
• Assigning ZK-CID unambiguously – the registration first belonged to a Convair 580, later a Metro.
• Equating Chathams Pacific with Air Chathams – the Tonga subsidiary has been history since 2013.

Conclusion

Air Chathams is proof that even an airline with around ten aircraft can write aviation history. Founded to supply remote islands, it became the last bastion of the Convair 580 and the home of a flying DC-3. Today the Saab 340 and ATR 72-500 are the focus – less nostalgic, but with a manageable fleet you can log completely. How to do that is shown in the guide Collecting registrations.