Air New Zealand’s refurbished Dreamliners will initially fly mainly between Auckland and Brisbane, San Francisco, Rarotonga, and Vancouver, with other routes added as more revamped planes enter the fleet.
The inaugural commercial flight of the first overhauled 787 will be on Mon, to Brisbane, before returning for an AKL-SFO flight.
However, NZ’s ceo Greg Foran (pictured) is not expecting a stampede to get on the renovated aircraft. “The reason for that is that quite quickly, the chances of getting on one of these is going to improve.’’ Most customers didn’t target particular planes with around 90% happy with aircraft they’re assigned, he says.
The overhaul was a milestone for the airline, much like the new uniform, he says. Seats on the 787s were first installed on old jumbo jets back in 2004, and the overhaul was the first new onboard product for 15 years.
He says there was only so much that soft product, such as service by crew, could do to improve perceptions of the airline before replacing the hardware.
. . . Domestic
Although there’s an intense spotlight on the airline’s domestic air fares, Foran says it had no choice but to spend on the upgrade of its international fleet.
He says he’d be foolish not to empathise with what travellers were feeling during a cost of living crisis. ‘’Does it mean that you don’t go and do things like this? No, I think you actually have to do this because you just couldn’t put off what we had anymore.’’ Customers were tiring of the old product, which doesn’t compare well to rivals, and Foran says it was increasingly difficult to get parts for old seats.
The plane, ZK-NZH, is the first of 14 787s to undergo a nose to tail revamp in the $500m fleet program. The second improved plane is due to enter the fleet in late Jun and half the fleet is expected to be back by the end of the year.
All the existing planes will be finished by the end of 2026.
