by local authorities, Air Chathams took over the route with a Saab 340 airliner in September 2018, with Air New Zealand leaving behind ground servicing equipment for the airline to use. End of operation and merger On 19 November 2019, the merger of Air Nelson took place, with their fleet moving to the Air New Zealand air operators certificate and the airline ceasing to operate, these aircraft are now also operating under the Air New Zealand callsigns (NZxxxx), furthermore removing the old RLK ICAO code. Destinations Air Nelson served the following routes at its closure: From Auckland to Blenheim, Gisborne, Kerikeri, Nelson, New Plymouth, Palmerston North, Rotorua, Taupo, Tauranga, Whangarei From Christchurch to Hamilton, Hokitika, Invercargill, Napier, Nelson, New Plymouth, Palmerston North, Tauranga, Wellington From Wellington to Blenheim, Christchurch, Gisborne, Hamilton, Invercargill, Napier, Nelson, New Plymouth, Palmerston North, Rotorua, Tauranga, Timaru From Palmerston North to Hamilton Air Nelson used to serve the towns of Kapiti Coast, Motueka, Oamaru, Takaka, Westport and Whanganui. Fleet The Air Nelson fleet consisted of the following aircraft (as of August 2019): Historic fleet Accidents On 30 September 2010, Air New Zealand subsidiary Air Nelson Flight 8841 was flying from Wellington International Airport to Nelson Airport but was diverted to Blenheim due to bad weather in Nelson. On landing, the front landing gear on the Dash 8 Series 300 collapsed. The aircraft stopped successfully on the forward section of its fuselage and all 46 passengers and 3 crew members left the aircraft uninjured. The aircraft registration was ZK-NEB. A similar incident on 9 February 2011 saw an Air Nelson Q300 flying from Hamilton to Wellington diverted to Blenheim when the nose wheel failed to deploy. The plane made a successful nose down landing with none of the 44 passengers injured. It was later determined that the pilots failed to release the uplock lever with the necessary pressure for the landing gear to release. On 12 March 2019, two Air Nelson Q300 aircraft came close to collision on approach to Wellington Airport, with both aircraft taking evasive action after receiving traffic collision avoidance system resolution advisories (TCAS RA). Air Nelson flight 8285 from Gisborne was cleared for a visual approach to runway 34, third in sequence behind Jetstar flight 290 from Christchurch and Air Nelson flight 8235 from Rotorua. The pilots on flight 8285 misidentified the Jetstar Airbus A320 as the company Q300 and turned base early