This was published 8 years ago
Air New Zealand adds premium economy class to Australia routes
By Jamie Freed
Air New Zealand's premium economy class for trans-Tasman flights.
Air New Zealand will introduce a premium economy product on its trans-Tasman widebody flights from October, in a move that will allow Australians travelling in premium economy on the airline from Auckland to the Americas to have a more consistent quality experience.
The move comes as competition heats up on trans-Pacific routes, with Qantas Airways and American Airlines having last week said they expected rivals to mount a "strong and swift response" to their plans for an expanded alliance.
Premium economy includes more space, premium food, additional baggage allowances, premium check-in and priority boarding in return for a higher fare price and will be available for point to point trans-Tasman flights and for those connecting between Auckland and destinations in North and South America.
Air NZ flies from Auckland to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Vancouver and has announced Houston and Buenos Aires as new destinations from December.
Air NZ is increasingly targeting connecting passengers from Australia - particularly those from outside Sydney, which have fewer services to the Americas - as it looks to grow its business.
Its Auckland hub is a convenient transit point that does not require connecting passengers to change terminals as they have to do in Sydney. Air NZ competes for trans-Pacific traffic with Qantas Airways, Virgin Australia, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and Chilean carrier LAN. American Airlines last week announced it would begin flying from Sydney to Los Angeles in December, with Auckland-Los Angeles flights to be considered in the future, in a move that would break Air NZ's monopoly on that route.
Layout of new seating arrangement for Air New Zealand
Air NZ had previously allowed its trans-Pacific premium economy passengers and the highest paying economy class passengers on the "Works Deluxe" fares to sit in the premium economy seats on widebody flights, but they did not receive a better quality meal or service than other economy class passengers that had paid for meals.
Air NZ flies a mix of narrowbodies and widebodies across the Tasman, so passengers travelling in premium economy onward to North and South America wanting a consistent experience will need to select a widebody trans-Tasman flight.
The "Works Deluxe" will still be available on the airline's A320 and Boeing 767 aircraft from October, guaranteeing a "neighbour free" seat, but it will be removed from Air NZ's Boeing 777 and 787-9 aircraft due to the introduction of premium economy. Air NZ had also previously allowed gold and platinum members of its Airpoints frequent flyer program and trans-Tasman partner Virgin's Velocity program to select empty premium economy seats, but that benefit will also presumably end.
On Tuesday evening, Air NZ was awarded the world's best premium economy class, the world's best premium economy seat and the world's best premium economy onboard catering at the annual Skytrax World Airline Awards.
Air NZ chief sales and commercial officer Cam Wallace says although the carrier had been operating widebody aircraft on its trans-Tasman, Pacific Island and Bali services for some time, the mix of aircraft had made it difficult to offer premium economy as a product in the past.
"With the arrival of the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, refurbishment of our Boeing 777-200 fleet and exit of the Boeing 747-400, we now have a consistent premium economy offering across our twin aisle wide body fleet," he said.
"We know many of our customers enjoy the extra space and comfort when travelling premium economy on our long haul services and we're looking forward to extending this product to shorter flights."
A search of its website for at ticket in early November showed Air NZ priced a one-way premium economy flight on a 777-200 from Sydney to Auckland at $521, versus $288 for "The Works" in economy including a bag, meal and movies on the same flight and $891 in business class featuring a lie-flat bed and even better service.
The "Works Deluxe" on a narrowbody flight the same day cost between $323 and $403, depending on the flight.
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