By Millie Muroi
Air New Zealand passengers face up to two years of disruption as the ASX dual-listed airline deals with a maintenance issue involving up to 17 of its aircraft and 700 engines globally.
The airline, which serves Australia, the Pacific Islands and domestic New Zealand, said on Tuesday that a condition affecting the maintenance plan of engine supplier Pratt & Whitney would lead to revisions in its flight schedule.
Air New Zealand boss Greg Foran said the maintenance issue “does not present a safety issue”.Credit: Peter Rae
Air New Zealand chief executive Greg Foran said there were no safety concerns but noted it would affect his company’s 17 A320/321NEO aircraft, as well as 700 engines across other airlines globally over the next three years, with the effect most keenly felt in the coming year.
In July, Pratt & Whitney’s parent company RTX Corp said a “rare condition” in powdered metal had led to 1200 of its engines, built for the Airbus A320NEO between 2015 and 2021, needing to be inspected for micro cracks.
Foran said most customers whose flights had been changed would still fly on the same day. Some passengers on international flights would be moved to a service one day either side of their original booking, while others may have a cabin change due to a change of aircraft.
“We’ve been able to reorganise most our schedule by consolidating some flying and moving aircraft to different routes,” he said, adding that customers would be contacted in the coming weeks.
However, Foran said the airline had taken a “difficult decision” to pause two of its international routes: flights connecting Auckland and Hobart from April 5 and flights connecting Auckland to Seoul from April 1.
“The pause on flying to Seoul is to allow more resiliency when the Trent1000 engines that power our 787 fleet go for regular maintenance due to potential issues with the availability of spare engines from Rolls-Royce to cover the maintenance period,” he said.
“While both routes have performed well, we need to ensure we can deliver a reliable service across the rest of our network and get customers on our most in-demand routes to where they need to be.”
Customers will still be able to book to Hobart and Seoul with Air New Zealand, but flights will not be direct and will be partly operated by partner airlines.
Foran said the Pratt & Whitney servicing schedule change was significant and could impact services for up to two years. “Due to engine availability as a result of the P&W maintenance issues, the airline will have up to four aircraft grounded at any one time,” he said.
Foran also said the company was managing other supply chain issues faced by airlines globally, while it looks to put additional fleet cover in place.
“Leasing additional aircraft is an option we are looking at closely,” he said. “Our latest leased Boeing 777-367ER aircraft is about to enter service, and we are considering other lease options.”
Foran said Air New Zealand had purchased new aircraft to add capacity to meet ongoing strong demand ahead of the news, but that the issue was one “no one expected just a few months ago”.
“The aviation industry is complex, and it’s a difficult time in the aviation ecosystem,” he said. Shares in Air New Zealand dropped 2.4 per cent to 61¢ each at about 3.40pm AEDT.
The Business Briefing newsletter delivers major stories, exclusive coverage and expert opinion. Sign up to get it every weekday morning.