HISTORY: 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 airline changed to Air New Zealand on 1 April 1965 at the same time as Douglas DC-8s entered service. TEAL's TE flight code carried over to Air New Zealand, which continued to use it for its international routes until 1989. Then its international flights began using the NZ code that belonged to NAC and had been used for that carrier's domestic flights.
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