Air NZ eyes full 787 operations by September

Air NZ expects its full fleet of Boeing 787-9s to be in service by the start of September as it eyes an end to the troubles caused by issues with the type's Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines. CE Christopher Luxon says that in the 6 months to December, up to 5 of the 787s were grounded due to ongoing maintenance issues with the engines, but that the situation has been improving. “Currently we have 2 aircraft on the ground and from the first of April we expect that to be 1, and by the first of September we expect that to be fully resolved,” he says. Luxon and CFO Jeff McDowall note that the disruption caused by the 787’s engine issues contributed to a number of indirect costs that the airline had to bear during the first half. These mostly related to having to re-accommodate passengers due to the groundings causing a shortage of aircraft. <br/>