Air New Zealand touts new on-time gains

Air New Zealand has continued to improve its reliability, with 83.1 percent of its July flights arriving within 15 minutes of schedule, a 6.4 percent gain on July 2025. While on-time performance eased from 86 percent in June, the result was a significant improvement from the same time last year, despite weather-related delay minutes being 74 percent higher year on year. Air New Zealand’s Chief Operations Officer, Ground and In-Flight, Kate Boyer says the results show the airline is making progress in the areas that matter most to customers. “Compared with July last year, more of our flights arrived on time, and we had 246 fewer cancellations, despite dealing with significantly more weather disruption. We’re particularly encouraged to see improvements right across the network. International on-time performance improved by more than nine percentage points, while Auckland, our largest and most complex operation, improved by almost 10 percentage points. We know reliability is one of the things our customers value most. Our focus is on reducing disruption in the first place, and when it does happen, recovering quickly and making the experience as easy as possible for our customers.” One of the largest contributors to the year-on-year improvement was a 41 percent reduction in reactionary delay minutes – when a delay to one flight has a knock-on effect on other flights later in the day. Compared with July last year, 1,366 fewer flights were affected by these knock-on delays. “Reducing reactionary delays is important because it’s not just about the first disrupted flight. The faster we can recover, the better chance we have of preventing that disruption from affecting customers travelling later in the day,” Boyer says. Cancellations also improved significantly compared with July last year. Total cancellations fell 1.6 percentage points to 2.8 percent, equating to 246 fewer cancellations, while cancellations within Air New Zealand’s control fell 1.2 percentage points to 1.0 percent, or 184 fewer cancellations. While the airline says it is focused on preventing disruption and recovering its operation more quickly, it is also investing in making the experience easier for customers when disruption can’t be avoided. One of those investments is Air New Zealand’s Automated Passenger Rebooking (APR) technology, first introduced for domestic flights in mid-2025, and now being extended to international cancellations. Before APR, rebooking customers following a cancellation could take hours – and for some long-haul cancellations, as long as four to six hours. With automation in place, customers with more straightforward itineraries can be rebooked in under 20 minutes, giving them certainty about their new flights sooner and the ability to move themselves onto another flight if there is an option that better suits. The technology also frees up Air New Zealand’s customer teams to focus on more complex itineraries and customers who need additional care. For Editorial Inquiries Contact: Editor Matt Driskill at [email protected] For Advertising Inquiries Contact: Head of Sales Sally Passey at [email protected]