Four Dreamliners grounded: Air New Zealand travellers face summer disruption

Travelling overseas for the holiday season may be impacted for some Kiwi travellers as Air New Zealand grounds a fourth Dreamliner aircraft. In an email to affected passengers, the airline said as of this week, the “unexpected change” had forced it to review its planned schedule through to the end of January 2025. One of the affected routes is Auckland to San Francisco. Air New Zealand CE Greg Foran told Stuff Travel in a statement, it was significantly impacted by global engine challenges across its fleet. “This is not unique to Air New Zealand; several airlines worldwide are similarly impacted. As of last week, our fourth 787 Dreamliner went out of service, meaning four of our 14 787 aircraft are now unable to fly. Our team has been closely managing these challenges to limit the impact on our customers as much as possible.” Four percent of customers travelling internationally with the airline during December and January have had their travel changed, Foran said. Air New Zealand said changes were spread across the international network to minimise the impact on any one route.<br/>