Airwork Group Enters NZ Receivership, Eyes New Investors
New Zealand-based Airwork Group has entered receivership after a shareholder default triggered a breach of the company’s banking agreements. The move follows the company’s inability to repay an $83.5 million loan, originally due in July 2024, despite securing a one-year extension. Receivers are now seeking new investors while operations continue.
Calibre Partners’ Brendon Gibson, Daniel Stoneman, and Neale Jackson were appointed as receivers. Their first report is expected on September 9, 2025. Gibson stated that the process aims to maintain trading operations while facilitating a going-concern sale of the group’s New Zealand and Australian businesses and assets.
The receivership includes Airwork Holdings Limited and key subsidiaries such as Airwork Flight Operations Limited, the group’s only certified air operator. However, Australian and Irish subsidiaries, including Airwork Ireland Limited, are not affected.
Airwork’s ownership lies with China’s Zhejiang Rifa Precision Machinery, though foreign ownership of certified operators in New Zealand is capped at 49%. Airwork Flight Operations is owned by a public trust with undisclosed shareholders.
The group operates a fleet of Boeing 737-300(SF) and -400(SF) freighters, with only six of its eleven 737-400(SF)s currently active. It has also been leasing aircraft, including Boeing 757s, to other carriers. Airwork has faced financial setbacks in recent years, including the loss of five 757-200(PCF)s to Russia’s Aviastar-TU amid sanctions and the departure of a major client, Team Global Express, in 2024.
Freightways, Airwork’s joint venture partner in Parcelair, said it is monitoring the situation and has a contingency plan in place.
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Sources: AirGuide Business airguide.info, bing.com, ch-aviation.com