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Air New Zealand’s first retrofitted 787-9 Dreamliner has completed its inaugural flight.
ZK-NZH touched down in Brisbane shortly after 11am on Monday as flight NZ145 from Auckland, with a full load of passengers on board. The plane, which was the first Dreamliner in the world to undergo a full refit from nose to tail, then returned to Auckland to fly on to San Francisco.
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Air New Zealand chief executive Greg Foran, who was on the inaugural flight, told Australian Aviation that the retrofit, which took around 180 days, has been seven to eight years in the making.
“This really got underway sort of 2017-2018. The business at that point had a product that had been on board for the best part of, at that stage, almost 20 years, so time for a change,” he said.
“And, of course, no sooner had the design work begun than COVID occurred, so that put a bit of a halt on things.
“But, come about 2022, we got things going again in earnest, and here we are today … it’ll be the first of 14 that we’ll do in the next two years.”
Cabin changes include new Business Premier and larger Business Premier Luxe seating; redesigned premium economy and economy seats; and an updated 4K in-flight entertainment system with Bluetooth connectivity and phone control.
“Basically, everything has effectively been ripped out and either sort of refurbished and cleaned and put back in – or in the case of seats and IFE, all of that is new product. So, pretty extensive,” Foran said.
“We got the retrofit done at [ST Engineering], who have been an incredible partner, and have seen the interior of this plane basically stripped bare and then either products have been cleaned up and retrofitted back in – or, as I said, in the case of all the seats, all the IFE, [replaced with] a brand new product, and, in fact, product that we don’t have on any of our planes.
“That’s been one of the challenges, of course, is to get that new product approved through all the regulatory processes on a retrofit, which is not normal. Normally, you would do that on a brand-new plane on a production line.”
According to Air New Zealand, all 14 Dreamliners are expected to complete their retrofits by the end of 2026. The second is currently undergoing its refit in Singapore, with seven expected to be complete by the end of this year.
“I’d like to think the second one, which is underway right at the moment, we should be able to do in about 40-45 days, learning from the first one,” Foran said.
“We don’t have to go through the regulatory process again, but we are still, as most people are, working hard on the supply chain, making sure you’ve got seats, making sure you’ve got galleys, making sure you’ve got in-flight entertainment, all those things.”
The retrofits, which will be performed on all 14 of Air New Zealand’s existing 787-9s, will not add the new Skynest economy sleeping pods; these will instead feature on its eight new Dreamliners expected to arrive from this year.
Jetstar is also looking to refit its fleet of 787-8 Dreamliners starting this year, including a new exterior livery and new seats in the economy and business class cabins. CEO Stephanie Tully last year hinted that the overhaul could unlock destinations as far afield as Las Vegas and Cape Town.
The reporter travelled to and from Auckland as a guest of Air New Zealand.
