Tasman Empire Airways Limited
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| Founded | 1940 | ||||||
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| Ceased operations | 1965 (become Air New Zealand) | ||||||
| Fleet size | 18 | ||||||
| Destinations | Auckland, Sydney, Wellington, Melbourne, Fiji, Tahiti, Cook Islands | ||||||
| Headquarters | Auckland, New Zealand | ||||||
Tasman Empire Airways Limited (TEAL) was the forerunner of Air New Zealand.
The company was formed by an Intergovernmental Agreement for Tasman Sea Air Services (also known as the Tasman Sea Agreement), a treaty signed by the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand in London on 10 April 1940. TEAL was first registered in Wellington as a limited liability company on 26 April 1940. The company's purpose was originally to transport mail, passengers and cargo across the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand, during World War II. The treaty was originally intended to end within 3 months after hostilities with Germany ended, however was extended in 1949, the agreement ended on 31 March 1954, with control and ownership passing into normal commercial arrangements.
The shares were originally held by the New Zealand government (20%), Union Airways (19%), BOAC (38%) and Qantas (23%).
The inaugural service from Auckland to Sydney on 30 April 1940 was flown by Aotearoa, one of its two Short S30 flying boats. There was a connection at Sydney with the Qantas/BOAC route to Great Britain which meant that there was, for the first time, a regular through air service between New Zealand and Britain. This lasted less than six weeks as, when Italy entered World War II in June 1940, it was no longer possible to fly through the Mediterranean. The TEAL service then provided a connection with the Horseshoe route.
The first four months of operation saw a weekly return service between Auckland and Sydney. This was expanded to thrice fortnightly with connections to San Francisco using Pan Am flights from Auckland (Pan Am was not flying into Australia). The connection to San Francisco ended in December 1941 when Japan entered the war.
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