[2] It was founded on 30 June 1979 by Robert Inglis and Nicki Smith as a flying school and charter services with the name of Motueka Air.

[3] It initially operated as a small commuter airline in the top half of the South Island, linking Nelson and Wellington with up to half-hourly services.

At this time aircraft included Piper PA-31 Navajo, Fairchild Metro, and Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante.

In 1986, Air New Zealand announced it would start to scale back its Fokker F27 Friendship operations and smaller regional centres were the first affected.

[5] The increase in fleet size allowed Air New Zealand to start pioneering longer provincial routes that were considered sustainable with 50-seat aircraft, such as Wellington to Invercargill, New Plymouth and Tauranga to Christchurch.

Air New Zealand has also used the Q300 to ramp up a more intensive high-frequency regional service allowing more departure choices.

A second route from the Kāpiti Coast was opened in 2013, Paraparaumu to Christchurch, but it could not be sustained and the short-lived service ceased in 2015.

The larger aircraft proved popular on peak services to the West Coast airport, which also serves the town of Greymouth.