Over the past 14 months Air New Zealand has increased its focus on charter activity resulting in revenue contribution of more than $18 million, a significant increase on the previous equivalent period.
Air New Zealand General Manager Airline Operations and Planning Glen Sowry said that this charter revenue has been achieved by using spare aircraft capacity and crew that was not required to operate Air New Zealand's commercial schedule.
"Air New Zealand typically has surplus aircraft capacity over the winter months when travel demand to and from New Zealand is lower than during our peak season.
"During this period and whenever we have surplus capacity, we have an active charter operation with a wide range of customers, for example we have carried rock bands around the Pacific, we recently undertook two flights to Kuwait and the UAE carrying Australian Defence Force personnel, and just two weeks ago recovered stricken P&O cruise ship passengers from Noumea.
"As recently as this past weekend, Air New Zealand operated a charter A320 flight to Wallis Island in the Pacific to carry over 9 tonnes of fresh food supplies to the remote island community when the regular shipping service was unable to operate.
"Customers will typically charter aircraft where they have significant passenger volumes and it is cheaper than purchasing standard tickets on scheduled commercial services or where they have a desired departure date or time not available from a scheduled service, or they desire a non-stop service and the only available scheduled services involve stopovers.
"The aircraft used for charter operations are Air New Zealand aircraft operating under Air New Zealand's Air Operating Certificate and as such are subject to, and abide with, applicable NZCAA regulations.
"In flying such charter operations, Air New Zealand flies standard commercial air routes and operates to and from airports that meet all the normal commercial requirements required by Air New Zealand for our standard passenger operations," said Mr Sowry.
"In most cases, Air New Zealand has competed for charter contracts in open tender processes with other commercial airlines. The high success rate that Air New Zealand has had in securing and successfully operating these charters is a tribute to the depth of experience and integrity of Air New Zealand's operational staff and crew," said Mr Sowry.
ENDS
Issued by Air New Zealand Public Affairs, phone +64 (0)9 336 2761
For more information:
Tracey Palmer
Corporate Communications Manager
Air New Zealand
Tel: 09 336 3179 or 021 628 129
Email: Tracey.palmer@airnz.co.nz
NOTE: The content of all Air New Zealand media releases are accurate at the time of issue, as stated at the top of each release. For updates on any changes, please contact Air New Zealand.
Air New Zealand is proud to be a member of Star Alliance. The Star Alliance network was established in 1997 as the first truly global airline alliance to offer worldwide reach, recognition and seamless service to the international traveller. Its acceptance by the market has been recognised by numerous awards, including the Air Transport World Market Leadership Award, Best Airline Alliance by both Business Traveller Magazine and Skytrax. The member airlines are: Adria Airways, Air Canada, Air China, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana Airlines, Austrian, Blue1, bmi, Continental Airlines, Croatia Airlines, EGYPTAIR, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines, Shanghai Airlines, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, Spanair, SWISS, TAP Portugal, Turkish Airlines, THAI, United and US Airways. Aegean Airlines, Air India, Brussels Airlines and TAM have been announced as future members. Overall, the Star Alliance network offers 19,500 daily flights to 1,071 airports in 171 countries.
For more information about Air New Zealand visit www.airnewzealand.com and for more information about Star Alliance visit www.staralliance.com.
