High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The history of Air New Zealand, the national carrier of New Zealand, began when the amalgamated East Coast Airways and Cook Strait Airways began operations in January 1936 as Union Airways of N.Z. Ltd, the country`s first major airline. Union Airways was the sole New Zealand aviation partner in Tasman Empire Airways Limited (TEAL), which made its inaugural flight in 1940. The New Zealand Government bought full ownership of TEAL in 1961 and the airline was renamed Air New Zealand in 1965. New Zealand`s domestic airline, National Airways Corporation (NAC), was merged with Air New Zealand in 1978. Air New Zealand was privatised in 1989 but in the early 2000s it got in financial trouble and in 2001 the New Zealand Government took up 80% ownership in return for injecting NZ$885M.