Air New Zealand

Speaking in Auckland on Monday Air New Zealand chief executive Christopher Luxon said it had eight firm orders for the new aircraft and an agreement with Boeing includes an option to increase the number of aircraft from eight to up to 20. 

The deal is worth US$2.7 billion (NZ$4.12b). Air New Zealand has negotiated a significant discount on current list prices and the parties have agreed not to disclose the actual purchase price.

Air New Zealand said it had diverted several flights to Fiji over the past few days to top up on fuel.

It said the temporary shut-down of the damaged pipeline was affecting all airlines operating in and out of Auckland Airport.

The airport said it does not know how long the problem would take to fix, but it said it was in regular contact with the company responsible for the pipeline, Refinery New Zealand, to know when it would be operational again.

The airline has been operating a second flight only during the high season and was due to return to the twice weekly flights from the end of this month.

The Secretary to the Niue government Richard Hipa said Niue had signed an air services agreement with the airline for the second flight to continue through the low season.

"It's good news for us and we just hope there'll be bums on seats to make it economical."

The airline stopped flights in January, citing concerns about the state of the runway at Bauerfield Airport in Port Vila.

A multi-million dollar refurbishment is being planned and funded by the World Bank.

In the meantime, there have been two lots of temporary repairs to the runway.

While Virgin Australia has resumed services, Air New Zealand is only prepared to send in charter flights.

Earlier this week, Vanuatu's infrastructure minister, Jotham Napat, said the airline had told him that the runway was acceptable for operations.

An employment lawyer says the images could bring the airline into "disrepute", and may amount to serious misconduct.

The photos show a pilot posing with a blow-up doll inside an aircraft. It is understood the images were shared to Facebook and Instagram.

Another video, which appears to have been posted to Snapchat, shows a flight attendant moving through the cabin, spitting water.

The video is captioned: "Wish I could spit on passengers like this".

An Air New Zealand spokeswoman said the airline was "shocked and appalled" by the images.

According to RNZI, the airline announced it was satisfied temporary repairs to the runway at Bauerfield Airport have restored it to a safe standard for charter flights only.

It said it would only consider resuming regular services when a permanent solution for the runway had been fully funded, designed and contracted to a competent contractor.

RNZI reports the airlines cancelled flights into Vanuatu in January because of concerns over the safety of the runway at Bauerfield Airport.

But Virgin Australia has just resumed flights following repairs to the runway.

RNZI reports in January, Air New Zealand cancelled flights into Bauerfield Airport in Port Vila because of unsafe conditions.

Virgin Australia followed suit and Qantas suspended its codeshare arrangement with Air Vanuatu.

The New Zealand firms Fulton Hogan and Tonkin +Taylor have completed repairs to the runway, and aviation representatives in the region say the airstrip is now safe.

New Zealand's Civil Aviation Authority confirmed that Air New Zealand consulted it and it says it is pleased that appropriate action was taken.

The carrier suddenly suspended flights on Friday, citing concerns about foreign objects on the runway of Bauerfield Airport.

The Authority concedes that the runway is urgently due a resurfacing or repair.

General Manager Flight Operations Stephen Hunt says, “The condition of the runway at Port Vila has been gradually deteriorating and we have taken the difficult decision to suspend services before the situation becomes unsafe.”

Air New Zealand will operate one more return service between Auckland and Vanuatu on Sunday in order to repatriate customers, supported by additional safety measures.