Air New Zealand Boeing 767 was a good honest plane, chief pilot says, as it makes its last trip from Auckland

Friday, 31 March 2017

Air New Zealand's last 767 made it final take off as a passenger jet this afternoon on a round trip to Sydney.

After 32 years of service, Air New Zealand's last scheduled Boeing 767-300ER flight took place on Friday.

'It's a great plane that's done a fantastic job for us, bringing New Zealand to the world and the world to New Zealand,' Air New Zealand chief pilot David Morgan said.

'But now is the time for it to go.'

While development in flying technology were an obvious factor, Morgan also said older aircraft struggled to produce enough electricity and cooling power for today's cabins.

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Air New Zealand chief pilot David Morgan.

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With individual inflight entertainment screens at each seat these days, for example, more electricity is needed to power them and aircraft had to have better cooling systems to keep the cabin comfortable.

Another reason the aircraft need to move on is because they don't fit into the seat and cabin classes, including sky couches and premium economy, that Air New Zealand offers on its other long haul jets.

The 767s would be converted as freight planes, but not for Air New Zealand.

The 230-seat aircraft's pending retirement was announced last August.

Air New Zealand had flown the 767 for more than three decades having introduced it in 1985. During its time in service the aircraft had flown the majority of the airline's long-haul routes.

The aircraft has been progressively replaced by the more fuel efficient Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner since July 2014 with a further two 787s to be delivered last this year.

The airline has a total of 13 787s on order, with deliveries running until late 2018.

An fan of the 767 himself, Morgan said it was a pilot favourite due its good design and low sound levels.

'It's a very honest aeroplane, we know what it's going to do. It doesn't have any vices,' he said.

He said some of the pilots would be sentimental to see the plane retired but that the pain was eased by the move over to the 787.

'The 767 in 1985 is what the 787 is today.'

That new plane had updated technology but at lot of the flying experience for the pilot was the same, he said.

For nervous passengers, however, better systems for measuring and managing turbulence were a bonus. Morgan said.

The retirement of the 767 aircraft completed Air New Zealand's long term plan to move to a simplified fleet structure with the airline to operate a narrow-body fleet of Airbus A320s and a wide-body fleet of Boeing 777 and 787.