Air New Zealand

Air New Zealand launches bag tracker feature

 

The airline is updating its app to include a tracker that keeps customers informed about the status of their baggage.

The feature has already been widely adopted by several international carriers, including United Airlines and Singapore Airlines.

"We're always listening to our customers to understand how we can make their journey with us as smooth as possible," chief customer and sales officer Leanne Geraghty said in a statement.

Air NZ and NMIT join forces to boost aviation engineering talent

The country's national carrier and the tertiary institution are signing an agreement on Saturday to work together in responding to the country's skills needs for aviation engineering.

NMIT / Te Pūkenga Aviation School of Engineering's tutors provide training to more than 150 students each year to build, repair and maintain a variety of aircraft.

Curriculum area manager for engineering, construction and infrastructure Reid Carnegie said it was great to be working closely with Air NZ to foster the industry's talent pipeline.

Vanuatu 'pushing from every front' for Air NZ's return

The latest problem; mechanical issues, which has grounded the airline for over a week and caused travel disruptions to hundreds of people.

It is expected to cost the airline more than $VT169 million ($NZ2.3 million), one board member who did not want to be named told our correspondent last week.

"The government is very serious and it is looking at how we will step in to really address the issue," Foreign Minister Jotham Napat told RNZ Pacific.

This is not the first time the airline has failed to provide a service to its customers.

Air New Zealand reduces flight schedule over next six months to deal with staff sickness

The airline will operate a reduced schedule over the next six months.

There will be changes to some flights, where there will be 1.5 percent fewer seats than originally planned.

For domestic travellers whose flights are shifted, they will most likely be transferred to another one on the same day, and for international travellers, it will likely be either the same day or plus or minus a day from their original booking.

Queenstown visitors fail to show up

Hospitality, accommodation and tourism operators say while the district has never been a magnet for North Islanders over the summer holidays, the Omicron variant of Covid-19 and fears of a snap lockdown appear to have discouraged many from travelling far from home.

Around the Basin general manager Steve Norton said trading at his bike-hire and tour business was down on 12 months ago, when visitors felt more confident about the future.

Even those who had come were wary about booking activities in advance, Norton said.

"We've been surprised by how slow it's been."

Air NZ restructures its support package with government

The updated package gives the airline a cash reserve it can tap into that isn't entirely debt.

The new agreement would give the national carrier the ability to issue up to $1 billion of non-voting shares to the government, while reducing its existing debt facility from $1.5b to $1b, with an extended term to 2026.

The revised package would raise the overall financial support available to company from $1.5b to $2b.

Air NZ resumes flights to Nadi

Air NZ's first commercial flight to Fiji amid the Covid-19 pandemic arrived in Nadi last week.

Chris Chand, of Fiji Airports, said the flight from Auckland carried repatriated Fijians and tourists.

With New Zealand's borders closed to Fiji, customer loads have been understandably quite low, the airline said in a statement.

"We have been operating one return Nadi flight per week through the pandemic which has been mostly cargo into Nadi," he said.

Air New Zealand expects to report a full-year loss of under $450m

In an update to the market, the national carrier says it had not drawn down any further on its loan from the government.

It said the recovery in domestic travel and the government's contribution to its cargo business had been a significant factor in mitigating the effects of Covid-19.

In February the company posted a net loss of $72 million for the six months ended December and said it had taken significant steps to cut costs.

Air NZ sets up team to review compassionate refunds

Customers can ask for a refund if they can no longer travel due to ill health or financial hardship caused by the pandemic.

The policy has been in place since the start of the pandemic, and the airline said a large number of people had re-booked using their credits.

But it recognised travel was still out of reach for some people and wanted to remind them of potential refunds.

Air New Zealand loses another top executive as chief digital officer resigns

Sepull moved from the United States to New Zealand to take up the role in May 2019.

Back then the airline’s executive team featured nine managers but in 2020 newly appointed chief executive Greg Foran reduced it to six as part of Covid-19 cost-cutting measures.

As a result long-serving executives Nick Judd, Mike Tod and John Whittaker were cut loose.

Soon after chief commercial and customer officer Cam Wallace resigned, followed by chief financial officer Jeff McDowall.