Air New Zealand - Fleet

Fleet

Air New Zealand's main fleet consists of Boeing jet aircraft for long-haul flights, and Boeing and Airbus aircraft for domestic and short-haul international flights. Air New Zealand's subsidiaries operate various makes of turboprop aircraft.

The majority of the airline's main fleet is made up of short-haul jet aircraft in the form of Boeing 737-300s and Airbus A320-200s. The fourteen 737-300s are used on domestic routes between the major airports (Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin, Queenstown). The fleet also includes the last 737-300 built, ZK-NGJ, which was delivered to Air New Zealand in December 1999. 17 A320-200s are used on short-haul international routes to Australia and the Pacific Islands, and are used on most of the national services to and from New Zealand airports other than Auckland and Christchurch.

The international long-haul fleet consists of Boeing 767-300ER, Boeing 777-200ER, Boeing 777-300ER and Boeing 747-400 jet aircraft. 5 Boeing 767 aircraft operate routes to many outer Pacific Islands, Honolulu and Los Angeles, Osaka, and some flights to Australia and Bali. They all have recently been retrofitted with winglets to increase fuel economy. 8 777-200ER aircraft operate on the majority of the long-haul routes, including Asia, Los Angeles, London via Hong Kong, some Pacific Islands, Perth and Vancouver. 5 777-300ER aircraft service Los Angeles,London via Los Angeles and Australia. The 747-400 fleet has been reduced over recent years from 8 to 2 aircraft - these operate to San Francisco, and occasionally to Vancouver and Australia, and will be retired in 2015.

For regional domestic services, three makes of turboprop aircraft are used, each make belonging to a single subsidiary. Mount Cook Airline operates 11 ATR 72-500 and 1 ATR 72-600 aircraft between major centres, such as Hamilton, Palmerston North, Rotorua, Tauranga, Napier, and Invercargill. The 23 Air Nelson-operated Bombardier Q300 operate mainly on major routes alongside Mount Cook Airline, including to some smaller centres. Eagle Airways' 18 Beechcraft 1900D operate on minor routes between smaller urban areas.

The Boeing customer code for Air New Zealand is 19, which was sequestered from the National Airways Corporation on its merger with Air New Zealand in 1978 (Air New Zealand itself didn't own any Boeing aircraft before 1978). All Boeing aircraft built for Air New Zealand are designated with the customer code, so a Boeing 777-200ER built for Air New Zealand is designated a 777-219ER.