Why arent air new zealand updating their 737 fleet?

Question

they operate the old 300 series and they have just ordered more 300 series aircraft off ThomsonFly.com, why cant they invest in new domestic aircraft like the 737-700/800 etc A320. they arent poor, they just made orders for 777 787 etc they need to concentrate on their smaller planes

Answer 1

what is the thing we know about new zealand? it is:

1. a small country

2. very close to a great country / big country (australia)

3. not capable for doing an international flight.

4. is a big exporter of milk.

5. most people there is a farmer and imigrants.

That's all i know, being the reason why they don't want to order a big airplane ( boeing 747 series, airbis a3xx series, or ng series and other else.)

Hope this helps!!! (sorry for error language)

Answer 2

Air NZ received the last production run of the 737-300 and they are cheap to maintain and relatively efficient aircraft that are far from fully depreciated.   It is a commercial decision and Boeing has offered next generation 737s and Airbus has offered A319s/A320s to replace them, but it isn't an imperative at the moment.   The oldest aircraft in the fleet are the 747s and 767s which is why 777s and 787s have been ordered to replace them first.  The "need" you describe isn't there for planes that are only around 10 years old.    Plenty of airlines (Lufthansa, BA, Qantas) fly second generation 737s in large numbers.

Answer 3

737-700/800 is medium range aircraft which doesn't suits the traffic and passenger load factor of a smaller country like New Zealand. The airports require smaller aircrafts like A300 or Boeing 737-300 or the regional jets like Bombardiers and turbo-props in order to make profits (I am talking about regional travel--not international). Operating 737-700/800s will eat profits. Airlines earns on the basis of fare per seat and most of the 700/800 seats may remain vacant in off-seasons.

Answer 4

You could ask the same things for other airlines and their aircraft, many of whom operate older aircarft day in  day out...

Our 737-300s are the last off the production line and some are still under 10 years old. They've had a cabin refit a year or so ago and still look new on the inside.

The Thomsonfly aircraft is on a lease, however they are getting some extra aircraft to boost their 737-300 fleet to 16 aircraft (I think)

Their running costs at the moment obviously don't justify buying a fleet of new aircraft, but one would say that it would be replaced in the next 5-10 years. The 737-300s are a great workhorse and to be honest, the public don't really care what aircraft they are on as long as it is well maintained, and made to look tidy (which Air NZ does quite well)

This is just my observation.