Freedom Air’s new fleet arriving

The first of Freedom Air's fleet of new Airbus planes arrived in the country over the long weekend, marking what the low-cost wing of Air NZ says is the start of a new era.

After landing in Auckland at the end of a four-day delivery flight from Airbus headquarters in Toulouse, France, the A320 will soon be flying in one of the world's most cut-throat aviation markets.

Freedom says the plane marks "a new era and renewed confidence" for the value-based airline.

The A320 is popular with the world's low-cost airlines, and was last year picked by Qantas' JetStar division as its aircraft of choice.

JetStar is due to start flying the Tasman by the end of this year, though it is likely to be part of a wider arrangement with Air NZ, which is pursuing code-sharing deals with Qantas.

The plane is the first of four new A320s which will replace Freedom Air's Boeing 737s before the end of this year - when the airline will have been flying for 10 years.

It will fly from Hamilton, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin, mostly to holiday destinations, including Australia's Gold Coast and Fiji.

The new plane is 17 per cent longer and 21 per cent heavier than the Boeing 737 it is replacing. It can carry 168 passengers, compared to 142 in the Boeing.

Despite the extra weight, it uses the same amount of fuel.