Air New Zealand’s final Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner has returned from long-term storage, marking a major milestone in the airline’s response to one of the most daunting global supply chain challenges in aviation in recent years.
Air New Zealand now has no widebody aircraft in storage, which hasn’t happened since the global Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engine shortage impacted aircraft availability. At the height of the engine shortage, Air New Zealand grounded five of its 14 Boeing 787-9 aircrafts.
The airline plans to have all 14 of its 787-9 Dreamliners retrofitted with the airline’s new cabin experience by the end of 2026. Also by the end of the year, two new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners are scheduled to arrive from Boeing.
“With the completion of our retrofit programme and the delivery of our two new Boeing 787-9 aircraft by the end of this year, we’ll see targeted growth in widebody capacity over the next two years,” Air New Zealand general manager of fleet Baden Smith said. “This additional capacity opens up opportunities across our network, including our recently announced services between Christchurch and Singapore, Tokyo and Perth.”
Air New Zealand worked with partners to carry out Trent 1000 engine swaps in Alice Springs, allowing workers to pull out and send the engines for overhaul while the aircraft remained safely in storage.
“Long-term aircraft parking is limited in Auckland and New Zealand’s climate isn’t ideal for extended aircraft storage, so Alice Springs became the preferred location for the grounded Dreamliners,” Air New Zealand fleet project lead Robert Cox said. “Carrying out engine changes in Alice Springs was a significant logistical challenge, but it helped us get engines into the shop at least six months earlier than if they had remained on the aircraft.”
Air New Zealand’s narrowbody fleet is also nearly back at full throttle, with just two Airbus A320neo aircraft currently grounded due to issues with the Pratt & Whitney engines, down from six at the peak of the disruption.
In February 2025, Air New Zealand leased aircrafts to address the engine shortage concerns.
