Air New Zealand is adding more long-haul capacity for the southern summer period, Oct- Mar—as it gets set to welcome up to seven retrofitted 787 aircraft back to its fleet by the year’s end.
The move will allow the carrier to gain some momentum across its long-haul network and meet the market. NZ’s chief commercial officer Jeremy O’Brien says the carrier is ‘seeing strong demand, including growing popularity of our premium cabins’. As part of the move NZ will offer more than 34,000 extra seats on its North American routes, compared to the same time last year. It will also boost its premium capacity by 20,500 premium seats across its wider long-haul network.
. . . Nth America
NZ is adding nearly 24,000 more seats Auckland-Los Angeles Dec- Mar, a 16% increase on last year and will operate 11–12 flights a week on the route. Meanwhile between AKL-Houston it’s adding 4500 more seats Jan-Mar; while 3% (or 1800) more seats will be added between AKL and San Francisco. Premium seats on this route will also increase 21% year-on-year, and from Mar frequencies will rise from five to six flights a week. Between AKL and Vancouver NZ will upgauge to the larger 777 for the Dec-early Feb peak, and will boost premium seating by 25%. This includes a 30% increase in premium economy and 18% more in business premier.
. . . Asia
In Asia, between Auckland and Taipei NZ is increasing capacity by 27%, or 11,800 seats, year-on-year, timed to serve the Christmas and Chinese New Year travel peaks. It will also increase flights from three to four per week for the period Dec-Jan. The carrier’s increasingly popular AKL-Bali will get a 49% boost in premium seats (or 2400 seats); there will be 28% (or 3700) more premium seats between AKL and Hong Kong; while AKL-Shanghai gets a 35% increase in premium seats.
