Introducing nzompilot.info

Introducing

www.nzompilot.info

So I've finally taken the plunge and got myself a personalised domain name for this blog.

You will now find all my aviation musings, reports, photos right here www.nzompilot.info.

NZ 789 routes

On their blog (theflyingsocailnetwork) Air New Zealand have announced the routes and seating for their new Boeing 787-9's

Air New Zealand is the launch customer for the 787-9, the first of which is due to roll off the production line at Boeing in Seattle next month. Chief Executive Officer Christopher Luxon says the 787-9 is a game changer for the airline.

As expected they will predominantly replace the Boeing 767-319s on Shanghai, Papeete and Honolulu, but they will also replace the Boeing 777-219 on Tokyo and Perth.

The interior will feature almost 4 tiers of seating with Business, Premium Economy which will be known as business-lite, 16 rows of skycouch then economy.

• In the Premium Economy cabin the airline has worked with US seat designer Zodiac on a customised seat best described as Business-lite. This comfortable ink coloured luxury leather seat will have a 41” pitch, a generous 5” wide armrest and a leg rest and extendable foot support which will allow passengers to really stretch out and relax.

Read more about the new seating arrangements on theflyingsocialnetwork HERE

Other Skytrax winners

Air New Zealand weren't the only local winners at last nights World Airline Awards, with the following awards also going to local operators

• Best Low-Cost Airline in Australia / Pacific - Jetstar
• Best Staff Service in Australia / Pacific - Virgin Australia
• Best Airline Australia / Pacific - Qantas

NZ's PE win big at Skytrax

Air New Zealand's Premium Economy class has won big at the 2013 World Airline Awards run by Skytrax.

Air New Zealand won the award for

• World's Best Premium Economy Class
• World's Best Premium Economy Class Onboard Catering
• World's Best Premium Economy Class Seat

The World Airline Awards are the global benchmark of airline excellence. The awards are determined each year by the Skytrax airline passenger satisfaction survey of more than 18 million airline passengers from over 160 countries

Check out the Air New Zealand post at theflyingsocialnetwork HERE and the full list of Award Winners HERE

BAC & VA reach agreement

Brisbane Airport and Virgin Australia have reached agreement to "enhance customer experience at Brisbane Airport"  I picked up the news when BAC tweeted out the announcement this morning.

The agreement includes:

• A series of major upgrades to the Virgin Australia-leased area at the Domestic Terminal including an expanded Virgin Australia lounge, new gate lounges to support the growing ATR Turboprop operations, expanded terminal seating areas and additional aerobridge gates for wide-bodied Airbus A330 aircraft;
• Ongoing runway access for the next 10 years and support for the development of the new parallel runway;
• The sale and lease-back of the Virgin Australia hangar at Brisbane Airport.

 Towards the bottom of the BAC announcement you see that the 10 year runway system agreement "provides certainty to the ongoing development of infrastructure at Brisbane Airport" which to me suggests Virgin have accepted the user pre-pay option for the second runway which has been a big sticking point with airlines until now.  I also suspect that this will add some additional cost to tickets as Virgin pass on this cost to travelers.

The end of the BAC announcement also says the sale and lease back of the Virgin hangar will occur this financial year - i.e. before June 30th.

I cannot yet find a press release on the Virgin Australia site

ZK-OXA delivered

Air New Zealand have taken delivery of ZK-OXA their first Airbus A320 with sharklets.  After a quick stop off at the Paris Air Show the A320 is now winging its way to New Zealand, with an ETA into Auckland of around 3pm (NZST) on Friday afternoon 21-June-2013

Here are some photos and video from the Airbus delivery ceremony (from Airbus)

And some images of ZK-OXA at the Paris Air Show

pic from newstalkzb.co.nz

pic from worldairlinenews.com

pic from australianaviation.com.au

pic from washingtonpost.com

Video of ZK-OXA at the Paris Air Show can be seen HERE thanks to 3news.co.nz

New look NZ

Air New Zealand have taken to Facebook to release their new look livery with two separate photo's showing a new black livery and a new white livery.

The new look will begin to roll out on aircraft later this year, time will tell what these look like on the aircraft, if you have any thoughts or comments then leave them in the comments

Black Livery © Air New Zealand

White Livery © Air New Zealand

JQ 787 just 5 months from service

Jetstar have sparked a flurry of excitement from local spotters in Cairns, Gold Coast, Perth, Melbourne & Sydney by announcing their new fleet of 787 aircraft will debut on domestic services in November before heading into international operations in December.

Qantas’ low-cost offshoot, which takes delivery of Australia’s first 787 in late September, says that popular domestic routes from Sydney, Melbourne and Perth to the Gold Coast and Cairns “are currently being considered”.

Interestingly enough with the exception of Perth these are the destinations that JQ fly their international A330 services from, and the ports that will see the 787's when they transition over to the international routes.

Read more on the Jetstar route announcement from David Flynn at ausbt.com.au HERE

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Jetstar have also announced the seating layout of their new birds with 21 business class seats in a 2-3-2 layout, while 314 economy seats will be laid out 3-3-3 giving an all up load of 335 passengers.

The seat pitch will be comparable to Jetstar’s current A330 fleet – around 38 inches in business class and 31 inches in economy –  says  Jetstar’s 787 director Mark Dal Pra.

Read more on the seating plans including inseat USB power, and gate-to-gate IFE at ausbt.com.au HERE