Air NZ homing in on big aircraft decision
AUCKLAND: Air New Zealand will soon make a billiondollarplus call on its next widebody plane, and three aircraft are in the running to give it scope to open up new routes.
The airline is in the final stages of selecting new aircraft to replace its eight 777200s and has been looking closely at a new version of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, the recently rolledout Boeing 777X and the Airbus A350XWB.
While the new aircraft will not enter the fleet until the 2023 financial year, a call is needed soon, to put in orders for engines and to finalise the configuration and design of new cabins.
The airline announced last week it would push out delivery of two of the planes by four to five years, to defer capital spending. That means some of its 777200s, already 13.4 years old on average, may keep working for longer.
The decision is due before June and could be as early as this month. It will help renew impetus for the airline, which this year has been forced to downgrade its profit outlook.
It is quite possible the airline will stick with what it knows, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, rather than opting for the 777X or making the leap to a widebody longhaul Airbus.
At list prices, eight new planes could cost between $3.3 billion and $4.5 billion, but airlines typically get discounts of up to 50%.
A prototype 777X was rolled out at Boeing’s Seattle plant on March 13 without the planned media fanfare, as the planemaker dealt with the crisis from the grounding of 737MAX planes around the world.
The 9 series of the 777X can carry more than 400 passengers and the longer range 8 seats about 50 fewer but has an enormous reach of more than 16,100km. That would make new destinations such as New York, 14,200km away, and Sao Paulo (12,000km) achievable.
Airbus’ A350 has several variants, including an ultralongrange version that the manufacturer says can fly close to 18,000km.
Air New Zealand has had Dreamliners for the past five years and although many have been grounded in the past 16 months by problems with RollsRoyce Trent 1000 Package C engines, newermodel planes have updated engines, and the airline could also opt for General Electric to power new planes.
This month’s revelation that newermodel Trent engines are also suffering premature wear in Singapore Airlines’ fleet will be another reason to switch from Rolls on its longhaul planes.
While its current 7879 fleet is not able to make New York or Sao Paulo, Boeing is working on increasing its maximum takeoff weight by around 10%, which would improve the feasibility of the New YorkAuckland flight and Sao PauloAuckland.
But Boeing is still keen on pushing the new 777X, which has a wider cabin and larger windows, and with new engines and aerodynamic advances to its wings, promises to be up to 20% more efficient per seat.
The A350 has been successfully introduced to fleets without the problems that have flared in Dreamliners.
Airbus says the different manufacturing process of its carbon fibre fuselage allows it to keep weight down, reducing stress on engines and improving reliability. But despite that, and synergies with A320s in the Air NZ narrowbody fleet, a shopping trip to Toulouse looks least likely.
And a possible clue is in the airline’s business review update: a picture of a Dreamliner in the section about widebody aircraft replacements. — NZME