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Air New Zealand says it plans to drop its Los Angeles-London Heathrow service and launch nonstop Auckland-New York Newark flights from October 2020 with Boeing 787-9 equipment.
The New Zealand flag carrier will be the first airline in Oceania to offer nonstop flights from this part of the world to the United States east coast.
The Auckland-Newark Liberty International Airport (which is in neighbouring New Jersey) route would be served three times a week using Boeing 787-9s configured in a premium-heavy layout, Air New Zealand said on Wednesday.
Air New Zealand said the Auckland-New York Newark routes, which is 7,655nm, would have a flight time of 15 hours and 40 minutes northbound and 17 hours and 40 minutes southbound.
Air New Zealand said it would use 787-9s with a higher proportion of business and premium economy seats to serve New York Newark. The “Code 2” layout comprised 27 seats in business, 33 seats in premium economy and 215 seats in economy for a total of 275.
This was 27 fewer seats than Air New Zealand’s standard 787-9 configuration.
In May, Air New Zealand signed a letter of intent to buy eight Boeing 787-10s, with an option for a further 12 aircraft, to replace eight ageing 777-200ERs.
At that time, it said the deal includes the flexibility to toggle between 787-9 aircraft and 787-10s, depending on market conditions and routes chosen during the delivery cycle of 2022-2027.
Also, then chief executive Christopher Luxon hinted flights to New York or other eastern United States could start before the first of the new fleet was delivered.
Air New Zealand to end Los Angeles-London Heathrow
However, nonstop New York flights were being launched at the expense of the airline’s Auckland-Los Angeles-London Heathrow flight, with the Los Angeles-London Heathrow leg being discontinued from October 2020.
Air New Zealand acting chief executive Jeff McDowall said while it was hard to farewell such an iconic route, the airline had to remain focused on markets with the greatest opportunity for long-term profitable growth.
“Air New Zealand is strongest when operating direct flights to and from our home base and this reset will put us in the best possible position to take advantage of increasing demand across the Pacific Rim,” McDowall said in a statement.
“Visitor growth to New Zealand is strongest from North America and performance of our new service to Chicago is exceeding expectations. New York has been an aspiration for Air New Zealand for some time and withdrawal from the Atlantic will free up aircraft capacity to make this milestone a reality.
Further, McDowall said New Zealanders had “more than twice the number of ways to fly to London than a decade ago”, nothing that preferences had changed.
“Less than seven per cent of all airline travellers between Auckland and London chose to fly via Los Angeles last year,” McDowall said.
“At the same time, the Atlantic has become one of the most hotly contested routes in the world and Air New Zealand lacks the home market advantages and scale of the North American and European airlines we’re up against.
Air New Zealand said the end of the daily Los Angeles-London Heathrow tag flight would result in the closure of the airline’s London cabin crew base, as well as the loss of about 25 jobs among sales and ground staff.
McDowall said the airline would look to redeploy affected staff in other areas of the business.
The other airline in Oceania considering operating to New York and London, among other destinations, was Qantas, which was currently evaluating whether to launch these ultra long-haul flights some time in 2023.
VIDEO: An Air New Zealand video of acting chief executive Jeff McDowall talking about the launch of Auckland-New York nonstop flights and decision to end the Los Angeles-London Heathrow operation.
Current longest nonstop passenger flights by distance (nautical miles)
1. New York Newark-Singapore (8,285nm) – operated by Singapore Airlines with Airbus A350-900ULR.
2. Auckland-Doha (7,848nm) – operated by Qatar Airways with Boeing 777-200LR.
3. London Heathrow-Perth (7,829nm) – operated by Qantas Airways with Boeing 787-9
4. Auckland-Dubai (7,668nm) – operated by Emirates Airline with Airbus A380
5. Los Angeles-Singapore (7,621nm) – Singapore Airlines with Airbus A350-900ULR
6. Houston-Sydney (7,470nm) – operated by United with Boeing 787-9
7. Sydney-Dallas/Fort Worth (7,454nm) – operated by Qantas with Airbus A380
8. Manila-New York (JFK) (7,404nm) – Philippine Airlines with Airbus A350-900
9. San Francisco-Singapore (7,339nm) – operated by United with Boeing 787-9 and Singapore Airlines with Airbus A350-900
10. Atlanta-Johannesburg (7,333nm) – operated by Delta Air Lines with Boeing 777-200LR
Planned future routes
1. Brisbane-Chicago (7,735nm) – to be operated by Qantas with Boeing 787-9. From April 2020
2. Auckland-New York Newark (7,655nm) – to be operated by Air New Zealand with Boeing 787-9. From October 2020
Speculated routes
1. Sydney-London (LHR) (9,188nm) – Qantas
2. Sydney-New York (JFK) (8,646nm) – Qantas
3. Melbourne-Dallas/Fort Worth (7,814nm) – Qantas
Red Cee
says:A common sense decision by Air New Zealand.
Johno
says:When launched it will be the 6th longest not the 5th as QANTAS is starting Chicago before Air New Zealand is starting New York.
Michael
says:Reading this article also makes me question if the Project Sunrise routes Qantas is looking to introduce will really be the “final frontier” of aviation as Alan Joyce claims. I think it is probable that eventually Air New Zealand may look at wanting to do Auckland to London non-stop.
This wouldn’t be the only possible route that would use an aircraft of this range, as other potential city pairs such as Perth to New York and Osaka/Tokyo to Rio/Sao Paulo are of similar distance. Therefore, it will eventually be viable for either Airbus or Boeing to push the technology to this limit. It may take 20 years or so (think eventual 777 replacement or second generation A350).
Qantas is already doing the research on the effects of 20hr flights on crew and passengers. Once experience is built up operating these flights it just needs to be stretched a few more hours. I know it seems crazy the idea of non-stop flights this long but I’m sure 20hr flights seemed crazy 20 years ago.
Chris
says:There is mo mention of Qatar’s Doha to Auckland services currently the 2nd longest.
australianaviation.com.au
says:Dear Chris,
It is included in the list of world’s longest routes at the bottom of the article alongside a photo of a Qatar Airways Boeing 777-200LR.
Bob
says:Yes there is Qatar is listed as no.2.
Adrian P
says:Do these flights have enough fuel in the tanks to have two missed approaches and then divert to their designated alternate port of entry?
Chris
says:Yes they do. Fiji is the back up for Air NZ AKL/ORD nonstop service for refuelling if needed, so it would also apply to the AKL/EWR nonstop service. To-date there has been enough fuel in the tanks on the AKL/ORD services without need for emergency refueling stop.
Adrian P
says:OK and the Qantas flight QF94 from Los Angeles to Melbourne, is the alternate Avalon or Adelaide?
Rod Pickin
says:Number crunchers have a very narrow spectrum of vision, very good at what they do, mostly micro not macro unfortunately. I don’t believe that the decision by ANZ to quit LHR is a good one, it can’t be that unprofitable otherwise they would quit before Oct. 2020; – it took them years to get that slot after quite a while at LGW so I think that a wider view should be studied. If the LAX LHR LAX sector restrictions commercially/operationally are too restrictive then how about extending the AKL SIN sector to LHR instead, it’s in our region and those silly little light twins can do the job just fine. I think a rethink is a must, we need to spread the wings not restrict them to one geographic location as would be evident. Kiwis normally have an exciting and different approach and this decision to me, does not compute.