Coronavirus: The Air NZ 777-200ER planes which may never fly again

Air NZ has signalled its fleet of Boeing 777-200ER aircraft may never fly again, resulting in an asset write-down worth hundreds of millions of dollars, an aviation analyst says. The carrier this week told shareholders, due to the devastating impact of Covid-19 on international travel, it was grounding its Boeing 777-200 and 777-300 extended range fleet until at least the end of the year. However, UBS aviation analysts Marcus Curly said Air New Zealand management indicated to analysts during a conference that its ageing 777-200ERs were no longer needed, based on an expectation that the airline would be 30% smaller in two years time and international travel may take even longer than that to recover. "What they were effectively telling us was that the most likely outcome is that they won't fly the 777-200s again," Curly said. That was reiterated in a Forsyth Barr analyst report on Air New Zealand which said airline management suggested they may undertake "early termination options" on several leased 777-300ER aircraft and largely write down the book value of its 777-200ER fleet. In a statement to the NZX on Tuesday Air New Zealand said it expected to book a non-cash impairment charge in relation to some 777 aircraft in the range of $350m to $450m in the 2020 financial year.<br/>