Emirates moves to rebuild NZ service
Air NZ adding domestic capacity as old competitor Jetstar returns to the market
Emirates has resumed flights to New Zealand in a “measured and phased” approach to rebuilding its network as airlines around the world get back to work at the fastest rate since Covid-19 slammed the industry.
Four years ago, Emirates was flying five Airbus A380s between New Zealand and Dubai a day. Now it is flying a Boeing 777 to Auckland just three times a week.
The 777-300ER has capacity for up to 434 passengers but is operating with reduced numbers on board as it devotes more space to cargo.
Emirates regional manager Chris Lethbridge said he expected strong demand for the flights, which provide an important new way of flying between New Zealand and Europe. “The resumption of services will help repatriate customers who were not able to return home due to the closure of borders and flight restrictions.” Emirates was working closely with the New Zealand Government “and following all standard protocols and procedures” over filing flight schedules. The Ministry of Health said in the past week that it was given details of passengers on flights coming to New Zealand at a late stage — after the doors were closed.
The resumption of limited New Zealand services is part of the rebuild from a complete grounding of its fleet in April, to 52 destinations by later this month. The airline is returning some of its 115 grounded A380s to the air on dense routes between Dubai and Europe.
It has been flying here since 2003 and Lethbridge said this country was an important part of its global network.
During the past two months the airline has run dedicated freight flights to and from Auckland, carrying up to 30 tonnes, after winning contracts from the Government as part of its aviation package.
Lethbridge said the airline had introduced a “generous“refund policy to ensure customers had a variety of options.
Passengers could either keep their existing tickets for up to two years, exchange the unused portion for a travel voucher equivalent to the amount paid for their original booking, or get a refund if they are unable to travel without any refund penalties.
New health protocols
In Dubai, passengers will have to pass through a fever detection scanner that looks similar to the metal detectors at airport security.
Check-in desks have been fitted with protective antimicrobial screens and spacing stickers on the floor help everyone maintain a safe distance in the queue.
There is staggered boarding, modified waiting areas to ensure all customers can observe social distancing, and all passengers get complimentary hygiene kits containing masks, gloves, hand sanitiser and antibacterial wipes.
On the flight, the airline said it was following all the guidance from health and aviation authorities, as well as its own additional safety measures to reduce the risk of infection.
That includes modified food services, enhanced cleaning and disinfecting, and ensuring everyone wears personal protective equipment.
If the flight is longer than 90 minutes, the airline is adding an extra cabin crew member dedicated to cleaning the lavatories.
The global rebuild
Around the world, the first official week of the northern summer has resulted in the strongest week-onweek growth in capacity during the Covid-19 event, with some 8.2 million seats, said route analysts OAG.
That was a 21 per cent week-onweek increase, but analyst John Grant warned that it may also be a week with a very high rate of cancellations as airlines wait for demand to respond.
“Capacity now stands at 41 per cent of that available in the same week last year, some seven percentage points up on last week.” Low-cost carriers in Europe were rapidly restoring capacity as countries in the bloc opened up borders to tourists. And in China – for now the biggest airline market – domestic capacity appears to have bounced back from last week’s lockdown in Beijing.
In the United States, capacity this week is up 14.3 per cent on the previous seven days, according to the OAG figures.
What’s happening here?
Air NZ this week added more capacity to its domestic schedule ahead of the school holidays, with the 302-seat Dreamliner to operate between Auckland and Christchurch during this time.
It will operate 16 return passenger services between Auckland and Christchurch until July 19, adding almost 10,000 seats on the route.
On the Auckland-Queenstown route there will be more capacity over the holidays than during the same time last year, through upgrading 140 return services from A320s to its larger A321neo aircraft until July 26.
The airline faces competition for the first time in months, with the return of Jetstar. The Qantas subsidiary is “initially” flying 75 return flights a week to five destinations in New Zealand: Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin and Queenstown, returning to about 60 per cent of its normal domestic schedule.
This has already prompted Air NZ to drop its prices, with chief commercial and customer officer Cam Wallace saying in a tweet that about 3500 passengers flew for less than $100 a sector yesterday.
Across the Tasman, Virgin Australia has announced it would restart flights to another 11 domestic destinations and add a further 17 routes to its domestic network by early August, bringing the total number of domestic destinations available to 28.