is a major scheduled passenger
Airline based in
Auckland ,
New Zealand . It is the New Zealand flag carrier focusing on
Australasia and the
South Pacific , with services to
Europe ,
North America and
Asia and it is a
Star Alliance member. Its main base is
Auckland International Airport .
The airline was established on
26 April 1940 . Originally named ''
TEAL '' (asman '''E'''mpire '''A'''irways '''L'''imited), its first flight was on
30 April 1940 , with a
Short Empire flying boat carrying 10 passengers from
Auckland to
Sydney . Registered ZK-AMA and named "
Aotearoa ", the aircraft took around 7 hours 30 minutes to travel the 1345 miles between the two cities.
On
31 March 1941 , TEAL's first annual report revealed that 130 trans-Tasman flights had been completed, 174,200 miles flown and 1461 passengers carried, with a profit of £NZ31,479 (,958).
During
WW2 TEAL undertook several special charter and reconnaissance flights to New Caledonia, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa and Hawaii to assist the war effort. In June
1944 TEAL crossed the
Tasman Sea for the 1000th time.
In 1947 a domestic competitor appeared in the form of the Government-owned ''
National Airways Corporation '' (NAC). NAC was formed from
Union Airways and a number of other smaller operators, and equipped with
De Havilland Dragon Rapide s,
De Havilland Fox Moth s,
Douglas DC-3 s,
Lockheed Electra s and
Lockheed 14 s which initially operated inside New Zealand. However in the late 1940s ''NAC'' also provided international services to some nearby
South Pacific countries, using converted ex
Royal New Zealand Air Force Short Sunderland s. Ex NAC Dragon Rapides, Fox Moths and DC-3s still fly in private hands. All three, as well as two ex-
NAC Lockheed Electras are preserved at the
Museum Of Transport And Technology , Auckland. One of the converted RNZAF Sunderlands was until recently airworthy with
Kermit Weeks collection.
After World War II TEAL re-equipped, initially with
Short Sandringham and later
Short Solent flying boats. A former
Royal New Zealand Air Force PBY Catalina was used for survey flights. One of the Solents is preserved in TEAL colours at the
Museum Of Transport And Technology , in
Auckland .
TEAL's initial schedule of two weekly flights from Auckland to Sydney was soon expanded to add departures from
Wellington , and flights to
Fiji were also added during the early years.
In 1953 the
Australia n Government bought 50% of the company, with the New Zealand Government deciding to buy the rest of the airline. This move enabled the company to keep on flying. In 1954 TEAL added the
Douglas DC-6 to its fleet, and the landplane replaced the outdated
Flying Boats on most international services. The
Flying Boats operated their last services in 1960. In 1955 TEAL made its 10,000th trans-Tasman crossing.
In 1959 TEAL again changed its fleet, replacing the DC6 with
Lockheed L-188 Electra IIs. The turboprop aircraft was capable of carrying 71 passengers at nearly 400 miles per hour, and reduced flying time on the Auckland to Sydney route to just 3 hours 50 minutes.
In 1961, as the airline had become a successful company, the New Zealand Government bought out the Australian Government's half ownership, and on
1 April 1965 the airline was renamed ''Air New Zealand''.
Air New Zealand entered the jet age with the arrival of its first
DC-8 on
20 July 1965 . The increased range of the jets enabled Air New Zealand to commence services to the
United States and
Asia for the first time - on
14 December the first
Auckland to
Los Angeles service took off, routing via
Nadi and
Honolulu .
Singapore and
Hong Kong followed in early 1966.
In 1970 the company placed an order for its first
DC-10 . The first arrived in
January 1973 , and Air New Zealand continued to add to its route network during the 1970s.
On
1 April 1978 the domestic airline
NAC (including its subsidiary
Safe Air ) and Air New Zealand merged, the company retaining the name of ''Air New Zealand''. (The new airline continued to use the NAC NZ prefix for domestic flight numbers and the Air New Zealand TE prefix for international flights until the late 1980s, when NZ became universal.)
On
28 November 1979 , an Air New Zealand sightseeing flight crashed into
Mount Erebus ,
Antarctica . The
Mount Erebus Disaster killed all 237 passengers and 20 crew members on board.
In 1981, Air New Zealand's first Boeing
747-200 was delivered, starting the replacement of the DC-10s. The airline retained Boeing's customer code of -19 assigned to NAC, so all Boeing aircraft built for the airline carry the -19 designation at the end of their model number. Therefore, the 747-200s became 747-219s. In 1982 the first Air New Zealand flight to
London (via
Papeete and
Los Angeles ) took place. Air New Zealand was now a global airline.
In 1985, the company's first Boeing
767-200 was delivered.
In October 1989 Air New Zealand became a privatised airline, with the sale of 100% of the company to a consortium headed by
Brierley Investments Ltd . Brierleys took 65%, with 30% to be sold to the
New Zealand public, staff, and institutional investors.
Qantas with 19.9%,
Japan Airlines 7.5%,
American Airlines 7.5%, and a
New Zealand Government "
Kiwi " share made up the balance. The Kiwi share has special powers to ensure that the majority shareholding is held by New Zealanders. In the same year Air New Zealand listed on the
New Zealand Stock Exchange .
In 1989 its first
747-400 was delivered. 1991 saw the airline receive its first
767-300 to supplement the seven 767-200s then in service.
The early 1990s saw many new routes added:
1990:
Kuala Lumpur ,
Denpasar ,
Bangkok
1991:
Nagoya ,
Taipei
1993:
Seoul
1994:
Sydney -
Los Angeles ,
Osaka
1995:
Fukuoka
Australia n Government policy was important for Air New Zealand in this period. After the success of the deregulation of the Australian domestic air travel market in 1990, the
Keating government announced that it would allow New Zealand carriers unlimited access to the Australian market. Air New Zealand immediately started planning to operate frequent services between the major Australian cities. However, at the last minute, the
Australian Transport Minister backed out of the deal, and although Air New Zealand was allocated an increased number of international departure slots from Australian cities, it was not permitted to operate domestically within Australia. This would have far-reaching implications, as Air New Zealand was forced to look at other ways of increasing its market in Australia — which would result in the acquisition of
Ansett Australia .
In 1995 Air New Zealand added
Fukuoka to its expanding list of Japanese destinations, and publicly announced its long-standing plan to buy 50% of
Ansett Airlines , a significantly larger company than Air New Zealand itself. Owned 50% by TNT and 50% by
News Limited , Ansett Airlines held close to half of the large Australian domestic market but had been declining for some years. Market analysts reported that Ansett had under-performing major assets, an ageing fleet, and needed a capital injection of at least million to shore up its weak balance sheet. Despite its size, its total value was pegged at anywhere between million and zero.
For Air New Zealand, purchasing TNT's half of Ansett represented a way to buy into the rich Australian domestic market. The deal had been under discussion with both of Ansett's owners since October 1994, and required some complex manoeuvering to meet with regulatory requirements on both sides of the Tasman, including the sale of
Ansett New Zealand , Air New Zealand's only significant home market competitor, to News Limited (to satisfy
New Zealand Commerce Commission requirements), and the sale of 51% of Ansett International to a consortium of Australian institutional investors (to satisfy Australian
Foreign Investment Review Board requirements that, if not met, would have meant the loss of Ansett International's bilateral air service agreement rights).
The terms of the agreement saw Air New Zealand pay million for its half of Ansett, including a million capital injection, and the transaction finally took place on
1 October 1996 .
A low-cost subsidiary,
Freedom Air , began operations in 1996.
1997 saw the suspension of
South Korean flights because of the
Asian Financial Crisis , and a small partnership was formed with
United Airlines .
In 1998
EVA Air and Air New Zealand jointly started operating
Boeing 767 services between Taipei and Auckland. In addition, Air New Zealand received 3 new Boeing
737-300 s to operate on flights between New Zealand and Australia.
During 1998 the airline announced that it was selling all five of its 747-200 aircraft to
Virgin Atlantic , with these being disposed of during 1999 and 2000.
Sir
Selwyn Cushing became the company's chairman after
Bob Matthew stepped down, and before 1998 was over Air New Zealand announced alliances with various airlines and the intent to become a member of the
Star Alliance in 1999.
1999 saw all five weekly services to
Tokyo operated by 747-400s and an additional 747 arrived in Auckland. At the end of the year, Air New Zealand and United filed for anti-trust immunity with the
United States Department Of Transportation because of the two companies' alliance agreements.
In March 1999 Ansett and Air New Zealand became full
Star Alliance members. 1999 also saw the start of a long and confusing battle over ownership of Ansett. Ansett remained profitable, but was having increasing difficulty in finding a way to rationalise its cost structure, and badly needed a capital injection to replace its elderly fleet. Of the two half owners, News Limited was more interested in selling out and investing the proceeds in other industries, while Air New Zealand did not have the funds to spare: with 102 aircraft, nearly 15,000 staff and a turnover of .3 billion (as compared with Air New Zealand's 72 aircraft, 9,200 staff and .8 billion turnover) Ansett's need for capital was greater than Air New Zealand's ability to provide it—particularly given the age of Air New Zealand's own fleet.
Singapore Airlines (SIA) and
Qantas both expressed an interest in buying Air New Zealand, Ansett employees planned a staff buy-out, and both SIA and Air New Zealand looked at buying News Limited's 50% share of Ansett. In March 1999 SIA made a formal offer of million for a half share. Given SIA's industry-leading status, ability to fund Ansett's re-equipment and expansion and global marketing network, industry observers were enthusiastic about the move. However, as part of its original deal to buy TNT's half of Ansett, Air New Zealand had a pre-emptive right to News Limited's half, provided only that it matched or bettered other offers.
The Air New Zealand board eventually approved the sale to SIA, but negotiations with SIA stalled when major Air New Zealand shareholder
Brierley Investments began buying more Air New Zealand shares and attempting to get SIA to buy Ansett through either Air New Zealand or Brierley, rather than from News Limited. In June, News Limited withdrew the offer to sell, citing "not yet resolved issues" between SIA and Air New Zealand.
At this stage, Ansett announced an unexpectedly high profit for the year— million—and News Limited took advantage of that to raise the asking price to billion. Industry analysts regarded this as far too optimistic in the notoriously boom and bust airline business, and put the true value of a half share at no more than million.
In February 2000 Air New Zealand finally announced its decision: it would buy the remaining half of Ansett for million. Industry observers were united in the belief that it was a bad decision: the price was probably too high, and Air New Zealand would not be able to fund the badly needed re-equipment.
Former Qantas chief financial officer
Gary Toomey was appointed Chief Executive Officer of both Air New Zealand and Ansett Holdings in December 2000. Services to
Frankfurt and
Honolulu from
Los Angeles were dropped, and were taken by Air New Zealand's Star Alliance partners
Lufthansa and United instead.
In 2001 Air New Zealand announced plans to buy 16 new
Beechcraft Raytheon Beech 1900D aircraft to replace its
Bandeirantes and
Metroliner s, which had served faithfully for 20 years, providing air service to New Zealand airports without jet capability.
However, Air New Zealand's new wholly-owned Australian subsidiary was in dreadful shape. Lack of proper maintenance to its 767 fleet—some of which were almost 20 years old—had seen the Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) ground seven aircraft two days before Christmas 2000 while inspections were carried out. Then in April 2001, one day before the busy Easter holiday period, all 10 Ansett 767s were grounded again when a series of other safety problems came to light, and Ansett was threatened with withdrawal of its Air Operator's Certificate.
To cover the loss of one third of Ansett's capacity, Air New Zealand chartered Ansett a 767 and a 747 from its own fleet, and additional aircraft were chartered from SIA,
Air Canada , and
Emirates . SIA—25% owner of Air New Zealand and thus in turn Ansett—agreed to provide technical assistance to get the 767s back into the air.
Despite the great loss of public confidence in the airline, the news was not all bad. Chief executive Gary Toomey announced that the total cost of the groundings was only .2 million, and that, finally, the seven oldest Ansett 767s would be sold, along with three of Air New Zealand's own 767s, and newer aircraft leased in their place. Toomey said:
What it really highlights though is that nothing has really changed in our strategy and that is that we need to re-equip, we need to grow our capacity, we need to have new products, so I think it just brings these objectives into focus more ad more by having a high profile about what's happened.
The reality was rather different. In revenue terms, Air New Zealand was the 39th largest airline in the world, Ansett the 32nd. However, both airlines were only marginally profitable and needed a substantial capital injection that neither one was able to provide. The larger very successful airlines Qantas and SIA both made offers to buy the Air New Zealand group but needed regulatory approval to lift the 25% foreign ownership rule. The
Clark government refused to make a decision. Deputy Prime Minister Jim Anderton said "the idea of selling our national airline to anyone would be an anathema" - even though Air New Zealand was at that time already 54.9% foreign-owned: 25% by Singapore Airlines, and 24.9% by Brierley Investments, which was originally a New Zealand-based concern but had relocated to Singapore in 2000, and circumvented the foreign ownership restrictions by using a New Zealand-based trust to hold its Air New Zealand shares.
The inconsistencies of national pride were not confined to the eastern side of the Tasman: public opinion polls showed that while New Zealanders were strongly opposed to Qantas buying into Air New Zealand, and moderately opposed to SIA increasing its stake, Australians were in favour of a Qantas buy-out of Air New Zealand but objected to any further SIA ownership of Air New Zealand (and thus Ansett) on the grounds that it would mean foreign ownership of Ansett—completely forgetting that Ansett was ''already'' 100% foreign-owned.
Meanwhile, Air New Zealand's financial position was deteriorating, and its Ansett subsidiary was losing market share to both Qantas and new entrant on the Australian domestic market,
Virgin Blue . The Air New Zealand board decided that the answer was to spend still more money, and buy Virgin Blue as well as Ansett. On condition that that deal went through, SIA was prepared to fund the purchase of 32 new aircraft for the Air New Zealand group. Virgin Blue, however, was growing fast, largely at the expense of Ansett; the initial million offer was deemed insufficient and in August Virgin Blue owner
Sir Richard Branson , with his customary gift for publicity, put an end to negotiations when he tore up on television what he claimed was a million Air New Zealand cheque.
On
10 September 2001 , in desperation Air New Zealand offered to sell Ansett to Qantas for $1. After two days' consideration Qantas declined, and Air New Zealand suspended trading in its shares (which had already dropped enormously) and placed Ansett into voluntary administration. Ansett was bankrupt, and Air New Zealand was in barely better shape. On the following day, Air New Zealand announced a staggering ,425 million loss: a ,321 million write-off of Ansett, and another million lost by Air New Zealand itself.
Ansett's trading loss for the year had been million (plus another million for Ansett International), or about million a month for most of the year, but with a sudden blow-out to around million a month for the last two months.
A storm of public criticism on both sides of the Tasman erupted, and bitter accusations were levelled. In particular, it was asked how such massive losses were possible when Ansett had a healthy 74% average load factor.
In an angry statement, Air New Zealand denied that there had been a programme of last-minute asset-stripping, that it had put million worth of Air New Zealand fuel bills through Ansett, cleaned out Ansett's bank accounts, and taken Ansett engines and spare parts to New Zealand. This statement was subsequently verified as true by Ansett's administrators, but many refused to let facts get in the way, as Air New Zealand workers in Australia were abused and spat on.
The trans-Tasman anger was enormous. At one stage, New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, on her way back to New Zealand from the Middle East, found her aircraft blockaded on the
Melbourne airport tarmac by laid-off Ansett workers, who refused to allow the jet to take off. Eventually, an
RNZAF Orion maritime reconnaissance aircraft had to be sent to fetch her.
The Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) began an investigation of whether Ansett had gone on trading while insolvent, and eventually determined in July 2002 that it would be too expensive and difficult to proceed with an action which would, in any case, need to be many separate actions on behalf of individual creditors rather than just one.
It later became clear from the release of documents under the New Zealand Official Information Act that the New Zealand Government had pressured the Australian Government not to support legal action against Air New Zealand, saying that this would "prejudice rather than progress the interests of those with financial claims against the company". The Australian government stated that the pressure had no effect on its decisions.
Laid-off Ansett workers were eventually paid most of their entitlements, partly from an million compensation package offered by Air New Zealand in return for having the ASIC enquiry dropped, but mostly by an per-seat levy imposed by
John Howard 's government on Australian airline passengers.
In October 2001 the New Zealand Government announced that it would provide Air New Zealand with an million rescue package, and in return would take up 80% ownership.
Gary Toomey resigned as CEO the same month.
In early 2002
Ralph Norris , formerly head of one of New Zealand's main banks, was announced as the new CEO of Air New Zealand, and commenced the difficult task of pulling the airline back from near-death.
In mid 2002 Air New Zealand announced it would reconfigure its domestic operations as a lower-cost airline, doing away with business class and meals on most domestic flights, the longest of which was an hour and a half. The airline justified this new style of service (known as Express Class) on the basis that few people traveled business class and that travellers would rather save the money on airline ticket costs than pay extra for a meal. Although the company had had online bookings for several years, it made internet sales its primary sales medium, abolished travel agents' commissions and added fees for agent, telephone and counter sales. The approach was an outstanding success, with a huge increase in internet bookings being recorded once the new fare structure was introduced, and domestic bookings eventually increasing by 23% on average.
In late 2002 the New Zealand Government agreed in principle to allow
Qantas to purchase a 22.5% shareholding at a cost of NZ$550 million; the purchase being subject to regulatory approval in both Australia and New Zealand. However, this proposal was met with resistance from the regulatory bodies in both countries - despite industry experts such as
IATA head Giovanni Bisignani calling their opposition "misguided" and suggesting that the proposed alliance was a model example of the only possible method of survival for smaller airlines. In late 2003 the Australian and New Zealand regulatory bodies both rejected the alliance as being anti-competitive - despite a trend for airlines worldwide to consolidate (such as the 2003 acquisition of
KLM by
Air France ). Air New Zealand and Qantas both announced they would appeal the decisions.
In November 2003 Air New Zealand extended the successful low-cost domestic Express concept to trans-Tasman routes. Early indications are that this move has also proven successful, with an estimated 10% increase of bookings in the first few months of operations.
On
30 June 2004 the airline commenced non-stop services from
Auckland to
San Francisco , the first new international destination for eight years.
In September
2004 Air New Zealand was named Best Long Haul Airline in the seventh annual
Conde Nast Traveller UK Readers' Awards.
On
20 September 2004 the New Zealand High Court blocked Qantas' plan to buy 22% of Air New Zealand. Qantas and Air New Zealand decided not to lodge an appeal. However, both
Ralph Norris and his counterpart at Qantas,
Geoff Dixon , have stated that the airlines will continue to assess other forms of cooperation that won't conflict with competition regulations.
In October 2004 SIA sold its remaining stake in Air New Zealand.
On
2 June 2004 Air New Zealand announced its fleet renewal plan - to acquire eight new
Boeing 777-200ER and two
787-8 aircraft at a cost of NZ$1.35 billion, as well as rights to purchase a further 42 long-haul aircraft. Deliveries would begin in 2005 (777) and 2010 (787), and the aircraft would be used to develop new routes and increase frequency on existing routes, as well as providing an overall increase in both passenger and cargo capacity. On
27 October 2005 it announced that it was ordering another two
Boeing 787-8 aircraft.
Four of the
Boeing 767-300 aircraft which currently operate the services which the new
Boeing 777-200ER aircraft are destined to operate will be returned to their owners when their leases expire, while the five which air New Zealand own will remain in the fleet for short to medium distance operations until delivery of four
Boeing 787-8 aircraft has been completed. From the end of 2006 the Air New Zealand longhaul aircraft fleet will consist of eight
Boeing 777-200ER and eight
Boeing 747-400 aircraft, all with the new longhaul product.
Air New Zealand 777-300
On
June 14 2005 Air New Zealand Chief Executive Ralph Norris announced that he had accepted the position of Managing Director and Chief Executive of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and therefore would be leaving Air New Zealand on
August 31 . The hunt began for a new Chief Executive and a number of internal and external candidates were considered.
On and the
USA , because under the current bilateral agreement the UK has with the US restrictions apply on the number of passengers which may be carried by
UK airlines between those two airports and the
UK .
Now that the agreement has been ratified Air New Zealand will begin the process of obtaining additional
Landing Slots at
London's Heathrow Airport .
On
September 7 2005 the
Boeing Company advised Air New Zealand that due to a strike by assembly workers the delivery of the new
Boeing 777 aircraft would be delayed, possibly by months. Air New Zealand is in line for millions of dollars in compensation for the delays. Air New Zealand finally took delivery of its first
Boeing 777 aircraft on
28 October .
On
October 5 2005 Air New Zealand announced plans to fly to
Adelaide from
Auckland starting March 2006. The carrier will use new
Airbus A320 aircraft on the route.
With Polynesian Airlines canceling their services to Niue on
October 7 2005 Air New Zealand announced they would be commencing weekly services to Niue using an all economy configured 737-300.
On
October 14 2005 Air New Zealand announced that Rob Fyfe (the General Manager of the Airlines Division) would be succeeding Ralph Norris as CEO. Additionally the airline announced it would be applying for consent to commence direct thrice weekly return services between Auckland and Shanghai.
On
October 16 2005 Air New Zealand unveiled its new uniform.
On
October 26 2005 Air New Zealand announced that it would be doubling its order of the new Boeing 787-8 aircraft from two to four aircraft.
On
October 19 2005 Air New Zealand proposed outsourcing of most of its heavy maintenance on its long haul aircraft and engines which would result in about 600 job loses mostly in Auckland. Air New Zealand said that "Maintenance, repair and overhaul for long-haul aircraft is now dominated by large scale international maintenance providers, who through their size can achieve more competitive cost structures. Add to this their proximity to key customers and, for some, the benefits of operating in low-cost Asian economies, and our current small scale, remote operation simply cannot compete." The proposal is estimated to save $100 million over five years and comes after many attempts to attract contracts to service other airlines longhaul aircraft. The
Royal New Zealand Air Force has stated that it is interested in employing some of these. The first 110 staff received their redundancy notices in December 2005.
A union proposal to save some of the remaining jobs was rejected in one worker vote in February 2006
(Radio New Zealand) , but a second vote saw the plan accepted. Shift and pay changes will allow about 300 engineers in Auckland to keep their jobs, although about 200 will still be made redundant.
(NZ Herald)
Engineers in
Christchurch , who service narrow-body jet engines, are not affected by the plans to outsource.
At 12.01am on
March 27 ,
2006 Air New Zealand embarked on a worldwide synchronised changeover to a new
Brand identity involving a new
Zambesi -designed uniform, new
Logo , new colour scheme and new look check-in counters and lounges. At 12.01am more than 5000 staff in airports and offices around the world embarked on a 24-hour synchronised changeover from the old to the new
Zambesi -designed uniforms. A further 180 crew onboard 13 flights operating over the scheduled time also embarked on a mid-flight changeover.
At the same time, the airline worked throughout the night to install new greenstone coloured walls featuring a fern-like extension of the
Koru behind check-in counters at Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch airports, and removed desks at the entrance to Koru lounges in
Auckland ,
Wellington ,
Christchurch ,
Sydney and
Los Angeles .
Key features of Air New Zealand's new brand identity:
New -designed uniforms, six months after they were revealed at
Air New Zealand Fashion Week 2005. Designed in consultation with uniformed staff representatives, the new uniform features a distinctly
New Zealand colour palette mirroring the
Greenstone , teal, schist and slate hues of our land, sea and sky; a
Maori motif created by the talented Derek Lardelli; soft fabric woven from the finest New Zealand merino wool, and hallmark curves inspired by the koru.
New Zealand Greenstone: A deep rich greenstone colour replaces the incumbent blue Pacific Wave colour. Following the unveiling at
Auckland ,
Wellington and
Christchurch airports on
March 27 ,
2006 , the new colour will be progressively introduced in all Air New Zealand environments over the next two years. Inspired by the colour of the pounamu, the prized gemstone found in
New Zealand , this deep rich colour reflects New Zealand's lush fauna, landscapes and forests.
Renewal and rebirth the Air New Zealand Koru, itself a symbol of renewal and rebirth, is iconically linked to Air New Zealand's heritage. Signifying the airline's new direction and growth, the koru has been extended and will eventually be woven throughout all of Air New Zealand's signage, products and collateral.
A New Zealand style greeting desks at the entrance of Koru lounges in
Auckland ,
Wellington ,
Christchurch ,
Sydney ,
Melbourne and
Los Angeles have been removed to enable staff to welcome and greet customers in a more friendly and relaxed manner.
On the
28 June 2004 , Air New Zealand released some of the details regarding their new longhaul product which will help the airline turn around the profitability of its international services. Every seat on their
Boeing 747 (and ordered
Boeing 777 ) fleet of aircraft will be replaced with a more comfortable seat equipped with a personal LCD screen linked to an audio and video on demand system which allows passengers to play, pause, stop, rewind and forward media on demand just like they can with DVDs and CDs at home. First class will be removed, the business class cabin will be upgraded to feature seats which convert into flat beds 6' 7.5" in length and a new premium economy section are being installed.
A new generation seat design which provides even more space is being installed into (Economy) Class, Air New Zealand's main cabin. The seats have a flexible edge seat base to provide more leg support when reclined and the equipment for the entertainment systems is mounted far up below the seat to maximise space available to the passenger. In a first for Air New Zealand every seat in the main cabin will have an 8.4" personal LCD screen linked to the system described above.
(Premium Economy) Class is a new concept to Air New Zealand, which will be the only airline offering the product into New Zealand. Premium Economy seats are located in a dedicated cabin which shares lavatories with the Business Class cabin. The class has the same 'mood lighting, wine selection and inseat power for electronic devices such as laptops' as the Business Class cabin. The seats are wider, with more legroom than Pacific Economy Class.
Air New Zealand's new (Business) Class cabin will introduce a seat which converts to a flat bed, the only truly lie-flat bed in Business Class flying to or from New Zealand. The seats are configured in a herring-bone layout, meaning that every seat has direct aisle access. The seat is a variation on the Virgin Atlantic Airways Upper Class seat, which was paid for the licence to these seats. Air Canada has ordered similar seating for an upgrade of its Business Class.
Air New Zealand’s first refurbished 747-400 aircraft, internally known as the 74R, started flying the NZ7/8 services between
Auckland and
San Francisco in August 2005. Since then another four 747-400s have been refurbished, and these now fly the daily
Auckland -
Los Angeles -
London Heathrow services (NZ2/NZ1) and some connecting services to
Sydney and
Brisbane . The remaining three will be refurbished and reintroduced into service in 2006.
Four new Boeing 777-200ER aircraft have been delivered and are used on the
Auckland to
San Francisco and
Auckland to
Singapore routes (and some
Auckland -
Melbourne ,
Sydney or
Brisbane services), and on the Tokyo route from the
26 March . From
October 28 ,
2006 , a second daily service between
Auckland and
London Heathrow , via
Hong Kong , flights NZ38/39) will be inaugurated using 747-400 aircraft.
- Please note that these dates are subject to change''
Airpoints is Air New Zealand's Frequent Flyer Program. Members earn Airpoints Dollars™ which can they can reedem at face value on any fare on every Air New Zealand ticketed and operated flight. Special redemption rates for longhaul Business Class exist for Airpoints Silver, Gold, Gold Elite and Koru Club members.
Members who earn enough Airpoints dollars on Air New Zealand and Star Alliance partner operated flights are awarded tier status, providing special benefits:
''
- One single-use entry coupon to an Air New Zealand operated Koru Club or International Line
- One complimentary one-class, one-sector upgrade, which may be confirmed 48 hours prior to travel. (Not valid for Pacific Premium to Business Premier upgrades)
- Priority waitlisting and airport standby
- Priority telephone service
Members also receive
Star Alliance Silver status, providing other valuable services with some partner airlines (such as Priority Check-In with Lufthansa at some ports). There have been rumours that NZ have been looking at increasing the benefits of this tier to satisfy the complaints of these members.
''
- Two not-transferable complimentary, one-class, one-sector upgrades. Upgrades can be confirmed up to three days before the flight.
- Priority waitlisting and airport standby
- May gift rewards to two nominees which are not part of their household
- Access to all Koru Club and Air New Zealand International Lounges with one guest prior to flights
- Priority boarding on some services
- An additional baggage allowance of 20kg or 1 piece depending on the route flown
- Priority check-in
- Priority luggage handling
- No expiry of Airpoints Dollars while at this tier or higher
- Access to the Premium Service Team when telephoning in
- If residing in New Zealand, a subscription to the Gold Airpoints Koru Review magazine
- A thre-day validity hotel/rental car voucher. (This benefit is very difficult to use and goes unused for most members).
Members also receive
Star Alliance Gold status, providing a number of guaranteed benefits with other Star Alliance carriers.
''
Receive all the benefits of Gold plus
- May bring five guests into the Air NZ operated Koru Club and International lounges
- Complimentary Upgrades are transferable and upgrades could clear up to 12 months before the flight
- May gift rewards to up to 4 different people per year
- Receive 5 24-hour non-transferable valet parking coupons valid at WLG, AKL and CHC; along with 1 each of the Hotel and Rental Car voucher (instead of one or the other for Gold tier)
- A partner card providing some of the benefits of this status to their partner when travelling on Air New Zealand operated services
Air New Zealand has four wholly-owned subsidiary airlines - three fully integrated
Regional Airline s,
Air Nelson ,
Eagle Airways and
Mount Cook Airline , serving secondary cities in New Zealand, and
Freedom Air , a low-cost international carrier flying between New Zealand and Eastern
Australia and
Fiji .
Air Nelson is based in
Nelson , operating
Saab 340A and recently acquired
Bombardier Q300 aircraft. Flight numbers are in the NZ8000 series.
Eagle Airways is based in
Hamilton , operating
Beechcraft 1900D aircraft. Flight numbers are in the NZ2000 series.
Mount Cook Airline is based in
Christchurch , operating 66-seater
ATR 72-500 turbo-prop aircraft. Flight numbers are in the NZ5000 series.
The current Air New Zealand (including Freedom Air) fleet consists of the following aircraft (at March 2006):
On order:
Air New Zealand's
Boeing customer number is
19 .
The average age of the Air New Zealand fleet is 6.7 years (at April 2006)
The
Māori symbol on the tail of Air New Zealand is known as the
Koru . It is a stylised representation of a
Fern frond unfolding and signifies new life, growth and renewal.
The Koru was used on the prows of the early Polynesian canoes which sailed the Pacific with its many islands. It is now seen on the tail of Air New Zealand's fleet as it wings its way over the same waters, not only still linking the Pacific peoples, but also reaching right across Asia, and the Atlantic to
London .
The Koru was first applied to the tail of Air New Zealand aircraft with the arrival of the DC-10 aircraft in 1973, and has remained ever since. The current aircraft livery was adopted in 1997.
The Koru also appears on the Air New Zealand house flag (see illustration) and can be seen flying at various international airports such as
LAX .
A newly redesigned logo was unveiled on
March 21 ,
2006 . The new logo will be progressively introduced over the next year in all advertising, signage and stationery and on planes.
