Air New Zealand
- IATA/ICAO Code
- NZ/ANZ
- Airline Type
- Full Service Carrier
- Hub(s)
- Auckland Airport, Christchurch Airport, Wellington Airport
- Year Founded
- 1965
- Alliance
- Star Alliance
- CEO
- Greg Foran
- Country
- New Zealand
Air New Zealand is fast-tracking the restart of some of its international network due to strong passenger demand and New Zealand accelerating its staged border reopening program. The airline is now aiming to meet 100% of its pre-pandemic domestic capacity and 75% of international capacity by the end of the year. With a bumper July of flying forecasted, Air New Zealand will resume services on 14 international routes in July and have its Boeing 777-300ERs back on some passenger routes.
Fourteen Air New Zealand routes restarting over the next couple of weeks
Across multiple interviews this week, Air New Zealand CEO Greg Foran highlighted the speed demand for international flights had returned and confirmed forward bookings were strong, despite some fairly hefty ticket prices. Mr Foran said those higher fares resulted from surging fuel costs and capacity constraints. He cited the example of flights between Auckland and Los Angeles, where fuel costs have risen from US$42,000 to $96,000. The Air New Zealand CEO also thinks the elevated fuel prices won’t go away anytime soon.
“There are obviously external forces at play here, and we need to be a little bit cautious, because if it (higher fuel prices) are around for a while, then these prices do need to be passed on, unfortunately,” Mr Foran told Bloomberg TV earlier this week. But the CEO also added that higher fares didn’t seem to be dampening demand in the short term.
“Once we got the go-ahead in terms of getting isolation removed and now, pre-departure tests removed, it (demand for international flights) has come back pretty strong. Customers are showing a real willingness to get out there and travel.”
Air New Zealand CEO Greg Foran. Photo: Air New Zealand
“As we get into the school holidays, which are just a couple of weeks away, we are going to see domestic get back to 100% of where we were pre-COVID; through the Tasman and Pacific islands, around 75% of pre-COVD; and the rest of international around 50% of pre-COVID,” Mr Foran told Radio New Zealand’s Checkpoint program on Thursday. “By the time we get to the end of the year, domestic will be completely back to pre-COVID or maybe even a little better, and the rest of the world sitting at around 75%. We are putting on another 40,000 seats (per week) commencing on Friday as we reopen to 14 new destinations.”
The return of Air New Zealand Boeing 777-300ER on passenger routes
Mr Foran ticked off Honolulu (HNL), Tahiti (PPT), Noumea (NOU), Houston (IAH), Adelaide (ADL), Cairns (CNS), Hobart (HBA), and Sunshine Coast/Maroochydore (MCY) flights resuming from Auckland (AKL). Air New Zealand flights from Christchurch (CHC) are resuming to Nadi (NAN) and the Gold Coast (OOL). Flights to Nadi from Wellington (WLG) are restarting soon, as are flights from Queenstown (ZQN) to Sydney (SYD), Melbourne (MEL), and Brisbane (BNE).
“Fourteen (resuming routes) over the next couple of weeks is a pretty big step up for us,” the Air New Zealand CEO said. Also in the news mix this week are the airline’s Boeing 777-300ERs. The planes were officially retired last year after being grounded at the pandemic’s start. But they’ve since been used on some freight only flights and now will help contribute towards providing those 40,000 extra seats per week. According to aircraft database planespotters.net, four Air New Zealand 777-300ERs remain parked at Victorville, one is parked at Auckland, and two (ZK-OKN and ZK-OKQ) are in service. Mr Foran notes bringing additional 777-300ERs back into service will take up to two months.
Source: Bloomberg TV, Radio New Zealand
