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Air New Zealand has kicked off a major refresh of its Boeing 787-9 fleet, with the first of 14 aircraft touching down in Singapore on Sunday to be retrofitted with new cabin interiors.
The aircraft, with the registration code ZK-NZH, will spend some time at ST Engineering, the airline’s heavy maintenance partner, where it will have its existing interior stripped out and all-new products installed, including revamped seats in Economy and Premium Economy, and the redesigned Business Premier cabin, including the new Business Premier Luxe product.
Air New Zealand’s general manager of strategy, networks and fleet Baden Smith says the arrival of the aircraft in Singapore marked a key milestone for the much-anticipated project.
“In 2014, Air New Zealand was the launch customer for the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. A decade on, it feels fitting that we’re the first airline in the world to retrofit these aircraft nose-to-tail with a new interior.
“This retrofit programme will see all the interiors removed, including the seats, inflight entertainment system, carpet, curtains, and lavatory wallpaper, before it’s all replaced with new product.
“The aircraft will then come back to New Zealand where our team will spend a few weeks working through various checks and training before it officially enters the flying schedule in the next year.”
Over the next two years, all 14 of the airline’s 787-9 aircraft will be retrofitted one at a time on a rolling schedule.
“Once the first aircraft has been retrofitted and certified, the remaining aircraft will head to Singapore one by one,” says Baden.
“We’re retrofitting them one at a time to ensure we have enough aircraft to fly our schedule, and we aren’t disrupting customers’ travel plans. Rolling out this retrofit programme before we get our new aircraft also puts us in a good place to continue delivering an exceptional flying experience for our customers.”
“We are excited to welcome the first of the 14 Boeing 787-9 aircraft to our Singapore facilities for the much-anticipated major refresh of Air New Zealand’s Dreamliner fleet,” says Tan Eng Shu, EVP and head of Aerospace MRO, ST Engineering.
“Being a long-standing MRO partner to Air New Zealand, we are able to support their Dreamliner fleet’s lifecycle requirements, from maintenance work to now what would be the world’s first full cabin retrofit on a Boeing 787-9.
“We appreciate the opportunity and look forward to enhancing our partnership and being part of the new Dreamliner experience with Air New Zealand.”
