The epic near-20,000km journey of Air New Zealand’s newest plane
Tuesday, 3 June 2025
Get ready aviation fans, two new planes are set to take to the skies above New Zealand and beyond.
Air New Zealand is gearing up for the arrival of a new Airbus A321neo on Wednesday.
ZK-NNH will touch down in Auckland after completing a 19,342km journey from the Airbus facility in Hamburg, Germany, with stops in Muscat (Oman), the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur and Cairns.
It will enter service in a few weeks and will be joined by another Airbus A321neo later in the year, bringing the internationally configured fleet up to nine. The airline said the two planes will add up to 625,000 seats on its nextwork each year.
These aircraft will fly to Australia and the Pacific islands and will carry 214 passengers.
Air New Zealand Chief Commercial Officer, Jeremy O’Brien, said the aircraft will boost the airline’s network: “It’s about doing what we do best: connecting Kiwis to the world and bringing visitors to our shores.
“We’re eagerly anticipating getting these aircraft in the skies. We can’t wait to share more soon about where they will be flying. Watch this airspace.”
ZK-NNH is due to arrive into Auckland at 6.45pm on Wednesday.
The airline recently celebrated the first nose-to-tail retrofitted Dreamliner taking off.
Last month, Stuff Travel was onboard the first commercial service on the refreshed 787-9.
The new plane will mainly fly Auckland to Brisbane, San Francisco and Vancouver routes.
The national carrier has also made headlines recently over the price of some of its domestic fares.
Air NZ came under fire for the high cost after Tauranga dad Scott Koster filed a complaint with the Commerce Commission. Koster had learned it was cheaper to fly to Los Angeles than from Tauranga to Wellington.
Air NZ’s chief financial officer, Richard Thomson, told Stuff the airline had experienced more cost inflation in the past three years than was typically seen in a decade, with Covid, a weak New Zealand dollar and geopolitics all to blame.