Air NZ charters 787 replacements

AIR New Zealand has leased two Airbus aircraft to help maintain its timetable, due to issues arising from unscheduled maintenance of the Rolls Royce engines on its 787-9 fleet ( TD Fri).

An A330 and an A340 will operate some Auckland-Sydney and all Auckland-Perth services by next week, after being chartered from European firm Hi-Fly.

Air NZ gm of customer experience, Anita Hawthorn, said the carrier was working hard to minimise the impact on customers caused by the Rolls Royce engine issues.

“Unfortunately around 4,500 customers have been affected by international flight delays and a small number of cancellations over the past week.

“Once these two additional aircraft are in service we will be able to operate a near normal timetable,” Hawthorn said.

Because Air NZ staff are not trained to operate the wide-bodied Airbus planes, the chartered aircraft will be operated by pilots and crew from Hi Fly, under the oversight of Air New Zealand, meaning there will be some differences in product and service style.

Hawthorn said unions representing Air NZ staff had been extremely understanding of the situation, and “share our commitment to take the necessary steps to maintain the flight schedule over this important Christmas and summer period”.