News round up vlog

Time for another video post, this time rounding up some of the recent news from Air New Zealand, Qantas, Scoot and LAN

Sad & Beautiful

THE SAD

Air New Zealand has lost one of its first female captains to a suspected brain aneurism shortly after she landed NZ175 a Boeing 787-9 in Perth.

Captain Ann Barbarich a 27 year veteran with the airline, was well respected in the Air New Zealand and New Zealand Aviation communities.

She was part of a four man flight crew on board the flight, and made a textbook landing before becoming unwell.  She was initially treated by doctors on board before being rushed to Perth hospital.

The thoughts of this blog are with her family and colleagues after this terrible event.

Read about Captain Barbarich via The New Zealand Herald HERE or stuff.co.nz HERE

THE BEAUTIFUL

The New Zealand Herald have also run an article this week on the interior refits of the Air New Zealand Boeing 777-219 fleet.  The article and video mentions and shows the second of the aircraft to undergo the upgrade ZK-OKE.

Business Premier refit of ZK-OKE - photo © New Zealand Herald

Read the story and watch the video HERE

"First" Flights On Recently Changed Routes

As reported earlier on this blog and elsewhere there have been some changes to international schedules into and out of Australasia, and these schedules have now begun.

Virgin Australia ended its MEL-LAX flights on Sunday and up gauged its BNE-LAX services to daily.  
While the new service began on Sunday the first of the additional arrivals occurred this morning when Boeing 777-3ZGER VH-VPD arrived into Brisbane as VOZ8

With the new codesharing agreement between Singapore Airlines and Air New Zealand taking effect on the Singapore - Auckland route, today saw the first Airbus A380 flight on the SQ285/286 service, operated by A380-841 9V-SKB.  

Singapore will continue to operate its Boeing 777-200s on SQ282/281 evening service until January when this is replaced by an Air New Zealand Boeing 777-219 service, under the code NZ281/282.  

The A380 service will operate over the southern summer, and is expected to return to a Boeing 777-300 service at the end of March 2015.

Today also saw Untied's first International Boeing 787-9 route with the direct LAX-MEL UA98 route touching down on Australian soil.  Boeing 787-9 N38950 inaugurated the now direct service and is set to return direct to LAX as UA99 at time of writing.  This route previously operated with a Boeing 777-200 and a stop in SYD.

NZ/SQ alliance approved

Finally 4 months after the Singapore authorities approved the alliance, the New Zealand Government has given its approval to the new alliance between Star Alliance partners Air New Zealand and Singapore Airlines for flights on the AKL-SIN route.

The alliance will see Singapore Airlines hand over its evening flight (SQ281/282) 08:45-22:45AKL/ 23:50-06:40+1SIN which is currently 5x weekly, to NZ who will operate it as a daily 772ER service.  SQ will hold onto their morning flight (SQ285/286) 21:10-10:50+1AKL 12:10-19:00SIN which operates with a 773ER.  This will be up gauged seasonally to operate with SQ's A380.

With the addition of the A380 to the SIN-AKL route, AKL will host 4x A380 on the ground each day with EK already operating 3x A380 to AKL.

Charles Spillane, Auckland Airport's acting general manager aeronautical commercial, says the new alliance will bring substantial capacity growth and improved connectivity.
"This alliance between Air New Zealand and Singapore Airlines demonstrates the commitment that both airlines have to growing connections between Singapore and New Zealand and we congratulate them on this," said Spillane.

Read more on the reaction to the alliance's approval via The New Zealand Herald HERE 

MH370

The thought and prayers of this blog are with all family and friends of passengers on MH370 a Boeing 777-2H6 believed to be 9M-MRO which has gone missing between KUL and PEK

I will not enter into speculation and propaganda on what happened to this flight until the aircraft has been found and full details are released, I just pray for comfort and closure to family members and friends of those lost.

NZ to partner with SQ

Air New Zealand and Singapore Airlines have announced a new partnership on the Singapore - New Zealand routes.  These two already work together with their membership in Star Alliance and their ownership of shares in Virgin Australia.

The new alliance will allow NZ to re-enter the AKL-SIN market replacing SQ on 5 weekly services (SQ281/282) and adding a further two to offer 7 weekly services operated by the 772ER.  SQ will slowly add the A380 to their SQ285/286 service replacing the B773ER although initially this will only be seasonal with the 773 remaining in the off season.

I do not yet know if NZ will retime their new flights away from the late night AKL timings that SQ currently has on SQ281/282 but it seems to make sense for better fleet utilisation

The A380 should be clear of the terminal by the time 2 of the 3 EK A380s arrive so this shouldn't cause gate issues.

With the A380 replacing the B773ER their should be a capacity increase of 30% on the route.  

SQ will keep their SIN-CHC service as part of this partnership.

NZ hasn't flown its own aircraft to SIN since 2006, with the NZ code disappearing off SQ flights in 2007.  

For more on this partnership see the following:
nzherald.co.nz ARTICLE
stuff.co.nz ARTICLE
ausbt.com.au ARTICLE
NZ announcement to NZX HERE

NZ 789 routes

On their blog (theflyingsocailnetwork) Air New Zealand have announced the routes and seating for their new Boeing 787-9's

Air New Zealand is the launch customer for the 787-9, the first of which is due to roll off the production line at Boeing in Seattle next month. Chief Executive Officer Christopher Luxon says the 787-9 is a game changer for the airline.

As expected they will predominantly replace the Boeing 767-319s on Shanghai, Papeete and Honolulu, but they will also replace the Boeing 777-219 on Tokyo and Perth.

The interior will feature almost 4 tiers of seating with Business, Premium Economy which will be known as business-lite, 16 rows of skycouch then economy.

• In the Premium Economy cabin the airline has worked with US seat designer Zodiac on a customised seat best described as Business-lite. This comfortable ink coloured luxury leather seat will have a 41” pitch, a generous 5” wide armrest and a leg rest and extendable foot support which will allow passengers to really stretch out and relax.

Read more about the new seating arrangements on theflyingsocialnetwork HERE

Air New Zealand news

Air New Zealand held their annual Investor Day Presentation on Tuesday and the presentation is now online at the NZX website as can be seen HERE  I have scrolled through all 94 slides and here are some of the key points

The new strategy for this year seems to have been entitled go beyond and features heavily in the presentation

© Air New Zealand

Air New Zealand seem to have focused their route strategy onto the Pacific Rim and will focus on direct flights

© Air New Zealand (slide 10)

When looking for new markets within this region Air New Zealand will focus on

1. Market size to support 2-3 weekly services
2. Higher yielding traffic mix >Bus/VFR
3. Strong historical and projected growth
4. Strong point-to-point market
5. Focused markets (1-2 main cities)
6. Structural advantage, mostly outbound
7. Conduct advantage - network, cost or product

From this there are four main conclusions

1. Playing in the right markets
2. Working with the right partners
3. Australasian business portfolio
4. Pacific Rim network focus

From the following slide I get the impression that the new B787 fleet (or at least the first B787-9) will feature the All Black livery

© Air New Zealand (slide 46)

Further to the fleet news, in 2013 Air New Zealand will see 3 new A320s as well as 2 ATR 72-600s and over the next 3 years the fleet additions will look like this

© Air New Zealand (from slide 89)

During this time Air New Zealand expect the B747 fleet to have been fully retired by 2014, with the B737 & B767 fleet retired by 2015, although the B767 exit is under review.  So by 2016 the Air New Zealand long haul fleet will comprise B787 & B777 aircraft while the short haul jet fleet will be all A320 

Air New Zealand are also looking at focusing on the following

• B787 entry into service
• B777-200 upgrades
• Lounge upgrades (CHC, AKL, LAX)
• New ATR72-600s on regional + upgraded existing 72-500s
• Improved check-in experience
• Seamless journeys through our integrated network

Vale HKG-LHR-HKG NZ35/38

Air New Zealand have announced the end of their London - Hong Kong services NZ35/NZ38 effective 4 March 2013.

In a separate move which is part of Air New Zealand’s strategy to implement an alliance based network with a Pacific Rim focus, the airline has also formed a strategic agreement with Cathay Pacific on the Auckland – Hong Kong route.

Air New Zealand have announced that passengers booked on the HKG-LHR-HKG portion of NZ35/38 after 4/3/13 will be rebooked onto Cathay Pacific services.

Both Air New Zealand and Cathay Pacific will continue their current schedule on AKL-HKG-AKL services.

Outgoing Air New Zealand CEO Rob Fyfe has mentioned that the freed capacity will be redeployed into already announced additional North American services.

Read more from the Air New Zealand "blog" The Flying Social Network HERE