Air NZ picks up discarded capacity to USA & Canada

[markis10]

Air New Zealand (NZ) has announced a capacity increase between Auckland and several North American destinations, after Qantas decided to withdraw its Auckland-Los Angeles route in May.....NZ will increase its 12X-weekly Los Angeles-Auckland (AKL) service to 14X-weekly in mid-June, using a combination of 304-seat Boeing 777-200 and 332-seat 777-300 aircraft. It will begin using 379-seat 747-400 on its San Francisco-AKL service, moving the route to 5X-weekly beginning in April, and upgrading to a daily service during peak demand periods. Its AKL-Vancouver service, which has previously operated between 2X- and 4X-weekly, will move to a 5X-weekly 777-200 service during the peak December-February season.

Air New Zealand picks up discarded services | ATWOnline

 

[haydensydney]

I *heart* Air NZ.

 

[*A Flyer]

At the end of the day, what's not to love. A better product than QF, generally a better price and an increase in service.

 

[Timba-Jet]

This begs the question, why can NZ make the AKL-LAX (and YVR) route work, but QF can't?

Is it because NZ has a strangle hold on the corporate market ex-NZ?
The better product offering & service..

 

[serfty]

At the end of the day, what's not to love. A better product than QF, generally a better price and an increase in service.

As both an Air New Zealand Airpoint Gold Elite and a Qantas Frequent Flyer Platinum I dispute that statement in relation to "better".

 

[richie9x]

This begs the question, why can NZ make the AKL-LAX (and YVR) route work, but QF can't?

Is it because NZ has a strangle hold on the corporate market ex-NZ?
The better product offering & service..

I think it really came down to Qantas top priority was to get rid of some of its older 747s. To do that they had to sacrifice AKL-LAX to free up an A330.

 

[burmans]

This begs the question, why can NZ make the AKL-LAX (and YVR) route work, but QF can't?

Is it because NZ has a strangle hold on the corporate market ex-NZ?
The better product offering & service..

On the NZ run would be hard pressed to describe as better but maybe to US.

Of course reputedly their wages bills are much lower, this may be a start.