After debuting its new B787 on its Auckland-Brisbane route in May, Air New Zealand will bring its retrofitted Dreamliners to Australia’s two busiest airports, Sydney and Melbourne, plus the country’s western gateway, Perth.
In a memo sent to its travel trade partners, Air New Zealand said that it would add the new 787s to its 2025 northern summer and northern winter schedules, with seven retrofitted jets expected by the end of 2025.
According to the carrier, the aircraft will enter into service progressively from now until March 2026 “across various ports”.
The airline told Karryon that Sydney, Melbourne and Perth would be among the ports to join Brisbane in the new 787 scheduling.
While the new planes won’t be scheduled “consistently” yet, the carrier said the ports would “start to see them more regularly” over the rollout period.
In a recent interview with Karryon in Auckland, Air New Zealand Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) Jeremy O’Brien said the new planes would feature on its most in-demand Trans-Tasman services – in combination with its current deployment.
“The way in which we operate our network – Australian flights and also to the Pacific Islands… we run a combination of Airbus narrowbody jets as well as our Boeing widebody jets,” he said.
“So what you will see is… us doing some flying [with the new 787], probably on those very popular early morning business routes, where our widebody aircraft will come in from its long haul destination – and it will do a trip across the Tasman, or over to the islands.
“So you’ll see it on the likes of Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, the likes of Rarotonga, Apia as well. And as we get more aircraft retrofitted, you’ll start to see the aircraft turn up more often on those short-haul routes across the Tasman. So it will be a regular feature of the Tasman as we go forward.”
Premium passenger play
With the new Dreamliners, come more premium seats – and therefore, a renewed focus on higher-tier flyers.
“The other thing that you will see is that the number of premium seats on this aircraft has increased,” O’Brien states.
“So we have the four big Business Premier Luxe seats, the 22 Business Premier and the 33 Premium Economy [seats]. That’s 27% more than what the aircraft was flying before it was retrofitted.
“And so as we go through and change out the entire fleet, we do have significantly more premium capacity – that will be similar when we bring in new aircraft, so for instance, on the JFK route, over half of the aircraft will be premium cabins.
“And so that is a nod to our premium leisure strategy as we continue to grow, and we’re particularly looking into the likes of the North American and Asia markets, to attract that premium leisure traveller as one of our core audiences and segments that we look after.”
Eyeing Asia & America
This week, Air New Zealand announced that customers travelling to North America would have access to more than 34,000 additional seats, as well as 20,500 more premium seats over the northern winter.
Meanwhile, premium seats on Asian services would be boosted by 4,300 seats.
“We’re seeing strong demand, including growing popularity of our premium cabins. Customers want a more comfortable and seamless experience, and we are responding by increasing premium availability and growing flight frequencies across our long-haul network,” O’Brien stated this week.
“As we move through the year, more of our newly retrofitted 787 aircraft will enter service, bringing a refreshed experience to destinations such as San Francisco, Honolulu, Vancouver, and Shanghai.
“The feedback so far has been fantastic, with customers loving the new seating – particularly the additional space and comfort in premium cabins.”
Stars of the screen
As far as highlights go, O’Brien tells Karryon that his favourite feature on the retrofitted 787s is the new high-definition personal screens in every cabin.
In its Business Premier cabin, passengers can enjoy 24-inch (over 60 cms) screens, which he says are “more than twice the size of the screens we had there previously”. Elsewhere, personal screens are 15.5 inches (nearly 40 cms) in the new Premium Economy cabin and an impressive 13.3 inches in Economy class.
“So I think that’s a bit of a highlight for me.”
After what this scribe saw on board, it’ll likely be a highlight for many Aussies too.
The new 787s will be visible and available to book through GDS on Friday (13 June).
For more information, visit www.airnewzealand.com.au.
Read our full review of Air New Zealand’s newly retrofitted B787 Dreamliner after a first look of the jet at NZ HQ at Auckland Airport.
