Air New Zealand is gearing up its resources to welcome 2.8 million passengers between 15 December 2022 and 31 January 2023, following a surge in demand for what will be the first summer holiday period since COVID restrictions eased.
Air New Zealand Chief Operating Officer Alex Marren says during the same period last year, the airline carried just 1.1 million passengers, a clear indication that travel is rebounding. “Over recent weeks, we’ve seen a strong increase in bookings and over the summer, we’ll be operating at pre-COVID levels. We know how important it is to get our customers to where they need to be safely, so we’ve strengthened our operations to ensure customers enjoy a seamless airport and inflight experience.”
Over the last 10 months, Air New Zealand has hired more than1,950 operational employees – around 1,200 cabin crew, 250 pilots, 400 airport employees and 30 engineers. By February 2023, the airline will have hired an additional 700 people.
“Over the summer peak, we’re also adding a pool of casual employees across our airports to help customers on our busiest days. Where possible, we’re offering our part-time employees a full-time role. We’re back to more robust performance compared to our winter months where we experienced high levels of Covid. In preparation for summer, we’ve added some additional flexibility around our flight schedule and increased crew standby levels,” Marren said.
Air New Zealand is welcoming two new domestic A321neos into the fleet adding 50 additional seats per flight, brought in charter airline Wamos Air to operate daily return Auckland – Perth services and is continuing to bring back Boeing 777s from long-term storage.
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