Air New Zealand delays new business class to 2025

Air New Zealand’s long-awaited new business class won’t arrive until next year, with the Kiwi carrier forced to push back its Boeing 787 refit program.

While the first of 14 Dreamliners to be refurbished was previously due to arrive in Auckland in October, the programme is running “slightly later than originally planned due to global supply chain challenges for parts,” says Air New Zealand’s Head of Fleet Strategy and Delivery, Baden Smith.

“The first of our 787-9 aircraft will head off to Singapore for its retrofit in mid-October,” Smith confirmed to Executive Traveller.

“We’re excited to get this programme underway and will be working through various checks and training with the team to have it flying early in the new year.”

Air New Zealand's fresh take on business class has been delayed until early 2025.

And despite being crowned by AirNZ’s new flagship Business Premier suites, these 787s won’t necessarily launch on the non-stop Auckland-New York route.

“Our retrofit aircraft could be on any long-haul and short-haul route (anywhere we fly the 787 currently),” an Air New Zealand spokesperson told Executive Traveller earlier this year.

“The new aircraft will be more efficient for our ultra-long haul routes like Chicago and New York. However, until they arrive, there is a possibility our retrofit aircraft may also service these routes.”

Air New Zealand's 'premium-heavy' Boeing 787 layout for the new Dreamliners, now due in late 2025..

And those factory-fresh Dreamliners are now not expected until “towards the end of the 2025 calendar year,” AirNZ CEO Greg Foran noted in late August when he presented the airline’s  financial results for the 2023-2024 financial year.

The new 787s – designed specifically for ultra-long range flights and originally due in September 2024 – will sport 42 Business Premier seats across two cabins, with the first row of each two cabins containing four Business Premier Luxe suites (for a total of eight suites).

They’ll also debut six innovative Skynest bunk beds, which economy passengers can book as a full-length lie-flat bed for four hours at a time.

In comparison, the retrofitted 787s will have a smaller business class cabin of just 22 seats (including four Luxe suites) and come without the Skynest cribs.

Luxing it up

The Star Alliance member’s modern take on business class  will swap the current 20-year old ‘sleeper shells’, with narrow confines and a steep rake that sees many passengers facing one another like commuters on a bus.

Time's up, and not before time, for Air New Zealand's current angled business class pods.

To the relief and delight of all business class travellers, the new Business Premier seats adopt a more conventional layout that shifts the cabin from open space to your own space. 

Air New Zealand's new Business Premier will arrive in October this year.

Business class seats located on either side of the 787 will be angled slightly inwards, but still close enough to the window to enjoy the view.

Seats with a view: Air New Zealand's 2024 Business Premier class.

There’s also greater privacy from sliding privacy panels – although these are not full doors – along with creature comforts such as a storage cabinet and vanity mirror, a spacious side shelf, wireless device charging and a generous 24-inch video screen with Bluetooth audio streaming to your own cordless headphones or earbuds.

Air New Zealand's 2024 Business Premier seats include a 24" screen with Bluetooth audio streaming.

The first row of each business class cabin will contain four larger Business Premier Luxe suites: AirNZ’s take on the ‘business plus’ trend offering more space, comfort and amenity to those willing to spend a little more on their business class airfare.

More space to stretch out: Air New Zealand's 2024 Business Premier Luxe suites.

Business Premier Luxe suites can be closed off by two sliding partitions, while a companion seat allows a fellow business class flyer to join you to share a meal, a glass of wine or a game of cards.

Fly with a friend in Air New Zealand's 2024 Business Premier Luxe suites.

Apart from ‘soft product’ enhancements such as a Merino wool throw, Air New Zealand tells Executive Traveller there won’t be any elevation in food and drink, with Business Premier Luxe passengers enjoying the same’Aotearoa on a Plate’ dining concept, which showcases fresh locally-sourced ingredients.

The airline says while it considered Luxe suite options such as “a personal wardrobe or a mini-bar, the strong feedback we got was ‘just give us extra space’.”

Just how much passengers will have to pay for that additional space remains to be seen.