Air New Zealand has selected the new 787-10 as its latest aircraft to replace its fleet of aging 777-200. The airline has a confirmed order for a total of 8 aircraft, all of which are due to arrive in 2022. Not only is the 787-10 one of the newest aircraft out right now it also has incredible fuel range which would allow the airline to fly from New Zealand to New York non stop a total distance of nearly 8000 nautical miles.
The first aircraft is due to arrive in 2022 all eight jets come to a total cost of $3.9 billion using publicly available figures. However, airlines do not usually pay the full asking price and the price Air New Zealand paid has not been reviled due to confidentiality reasons.
Air New Zealand has also expressed interest in the A350 built by Airbus however after two years of negations Boeing finally was awarded the contract. One of the reasons for this decision may have been because the airline already has the smaller 787-9 a total of 13 in the fleet this would mean less training cost for crews another reason for the decision may have been the fact that the 787 is also cheaper than the aircraft.
The 787-10 will be ab
le to carry around 15% more passengers than the -9 increasing seat numbers from 263 in economy to about 337 (depending on the final class layout). The airline still has plans to keep the existing 787-9 and is even considering removing weight from them also to allow them to fly to New York this would mean that by 2022 both the 787-9 and 787-10 within the Air New Zealand Fleet will both be able to fly to New York non stop.
The 787-10 will be a fantastic new aircraft for Air New Zealand and talk with the both Boeing, and GE which will supply the engines are ongoing to ensure the aircraft will be able to perform the same task as the 777-200s currently do so well.
