Qantas is poised to return to New York City from mid-2023. But rather than connecting in Los Angeles, as was scheduled prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, passengers will now connect in Auckland before the 16 hour trip to JFK.
Air New Zealand
Additional details, images for Air New Zealand’s new Business Premier Luxe, SkyNest seats
After five years of design and development work, the new Air New Zealand business class cabin is expected to formally launch this week. This includes the new Business Premier Luxe offering in the bulkhead row, and SkyNest sleeping bunks for economy class passengers
Air New Zealand to launch Business Premier Luxe on reconfigured 787s
Look for a new business class seat flying on Air New Zealand in the months ahead. It includes an option dubbed “Business Premier Luxe” at the front of the business class cabin.
Air-to-ground networking coming in New Zealand
New Zealand could be the next country to bring a dedicated air-to-ground (ATG) in-flight connectivity network online. Engineering work is almost complete to develop a trial site for the SkyFive ATG platform in the country.
Cutting connections: Reviewing the connected aircraft retirements
Hundreds of aircraft rapidly retired from service. Hundreds more shifted into limbo, unclear of when they might fly again. The news no longer surprises, though some of the retirements bring about a sense of loss. For inflight connectivity vendors the impact is more than a sense of loss, however, as it maps to real revenue shortfalls with the aircraft removed from service.
Air travel is bouncing back: Can the trend hold??
The restart is on. While the past few weeks have seen offerings and traffic slowly begin to rise this week the pace is clearly shifting, with the US and Europe hitting a number of milestones.
Slivers of normalcy: Air New Zealand lounges reopening
Demand for air travel is up significantly in New Zealand, though still massively below 2019 levels. And now some passengers will have a slightly more comfortable travel experience as the carrier’s airport lounge network begins to reopen.
Fighting for the middle: A pandemic seating shift
Forget the fight over who gets the arm rests; middle seats on planes are now generating real fights over if they should be occupied at all. And airlines are fueling the flames with misleading marketing messaging.
Air New Zealand extends its range with Newark in 2020
Air New Zealand will add a new longest route to its network map in October 2020 as the carrier connects its Auckland home to Newark. The news also brings an end to the carrier’s 38 year run at London.
Sunrise Stretch: PaxEx Update 2019-10-18
The beginnings of Project Sunrise and extra leg room for the Kiwis. Plus more wifi (maybe) coming in China and another loyalty top tier moves further away.
Get these stories and more in this week’s PaxEx Update.