Why your Air New Zealand flight to Perth will have a very different look

Air New Zealand passengers who have booked trips to Western Australia this summer are going to have a rather different experience than usual, one with a Spanish flavour. The national carrier is chartering a plane from Madrid-based Wamos Air from November 15 to February 17 next year. It follows Air New Zealand CEO Greg Foran's announcement last week that the national carrier was looking at leasing aircraft and crew from overseas to get it through the summer period off the back of heavy domestic bookings. Wamos Air operates mainly leisure charter flights, but also leases out planes and crew, and the aircraft being used here is a A330-200. The current Air NZ plane flying on the Auckland-Perth route, a Boeing 787, will be kept on call for emergencies across the network. Air New Zealand General Manager Short Haul, Jeremy O’Brien, told Executive Traveller that the leasing is a “buffer against those unforeseen circumstances by freeing up an aircraft that can be brought in at short notice”. “It builds resilience into the network so that should things happen, we're able to recover really quickly.” The crew will be from Wamos and there will be some differences on board. There are no premium economy seats, so those with bookings in that section will be offered a seat in economy, along with a refund of the fare difference and a goodwill gesture of A$150. Affected customers can also claim a full refund or take credits if they don’t want to fly. There will be a full meal service on board, but there will be no ‘buy on board (in-flight bites) facility’ due to the lack of Air New Zealand's in-flight entertainment system. Wi-fi is also not available.<br/>