Air New Zealand has committed to add seven more Airbus A321neos to its fleet between 2020 and 2024.
Airline chief financial officer Jeff McDowall says that it entered into a commitment with Airbus earlier in the month for the additional jets, which will become part of its domestic fleet.Three will be delivered in 2020, and two each in 2022 and 2024.
“This is separate from the existing order of neos that will be arriving shortly for deployment on the transtasman and pacific island networks,” he adds.
Flight Fleets Analyzer shows that, excluding today’s announcement, the carrier has nine A320neos and eight A321neos on order. The first of those aircraft, powered by Pratt & Whitney PW1100G engines, will be delivered in December.
In the meantime, the carrier has flagged that three leased A320ceos in its transtasman fleet will be transferred to its domestic fleet, taking that to 20 aircraft.
“From 2020 these older leased aircraft will be replaced on a one-for-one swap with the larger A321neos which will provide efficient growth,” adds McDowall.
Air NZ has also pushed back delivery of one of its A320neos from 2020 to 2022, as it focuses on gaining greater utilisation from its short haul international fleet.
The carrier also confirmed that it will now take an additional Boeing 777-200 on lease to help cover schedule issues due to ongoing inspections on the Trent 1000 engines that power its 787-9 fleet.
To date, the carrier has taken an ex-Singapore Airlines 777-200 on lease from Boeing Capital, while it has also sourced a -300ER from EVA Air. The carrier has not stated where the other 777-200 is being leased from.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
