Straits Air Freight Express

Straits Air Freight Express (SAFE) was a cargo airline, established in 1950, named for its Cook Strait focus and connecting the North Island and South Islands of New Zealand's railway systems from the 1950s to the 1970s. The company was renamed Safe Air Limited in 1966 and diversified into aviation maintenance. In 1972 it was bought by the National Airways Corporation, which then merged with Air New Zealand. Safe Air continued to be operated as an independent entity by both owners. It ceased flying in 1990, but has continued to expand as a maintenance facility and now employs approximately 350 staff. In 2015 it was bought by the Australian arm of Airbus. Rail Air In 1947, New Zealand Railways Department (NZR) and the Royal New Zealand Air Force began flying between Paraparaumu and Blenheim with a service that came to be known as Rail Air. SAFE took over the service from the RNZAF in 1950. Much of NZR's inter-island freight moved to its new Inter-island rail ferry service from 1962 with the introduction of the GMV Aramoana, but the Rail Air service survived until December 1983. Fleet The main aircraft type that the company operated was the Bristol Type 170 Freighter Mk.31. The first two examples were delivered in mid-1951. The "cargon" system was designed in-house – a wheeled metal pallet and transfer system using modified railway flatcars to allow trucked loads to be transferred directly into the nose doorway of the tail-wheeled aircraft. This reduced the turn-around time of flights to about 15 minutes. 53,777 tons were carried between Woodbourne and Papaparaumu in 1961/62, but declined 25% next year, when Aramoana started the Interislander. The route closed in 1983. Eleven Bristol 170s were still in operation with SAFE in 1977. The company also operated two larger Armstrong Whitworth AW.650 Argosy four-engined turbine propeller freighter aircraft from the 1970s.