Air New Zealand leases HiFly Airbus A330-200 due to Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner engine issues
David Eyre
2 min read
CS-TQW Airbus A330-223 (MSN 262) of Hi Fly, in Mirpuri Foundation special livery, at Perth Airport - 16 December 2017. First visit to Perth. Leased by Air New Zealand due to urgent engine maintenance required on the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines powering its Boeing 787-9s. Seen here operating flight NZ175 from Auckland, on final approach to runway 21 at 2:08pm. Ex 9M-MKT, HB-IQF, VN-A370. Photo © Steve Jaksic
First visit to Perth. Leased by Air New Zealand due to urgent engine maintenance required on the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines powering its Boeing 787-9s. Seen here operating flight NZ175 from Auckland, on final approach to runway 21 at 2:08pm. Ex 9M-MKT, HB-IQF, VN-A370. Photo © Steve Jaksic
16 December 2017 © David Eyre
Air New Zealand has had to lease an Airbus A330-200 aircraft from Portuguese charter airline HiFly to operate Perth services, due to urgent maintenance on the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines that power its Boeing 787-9 fleet.
Engine issues on Boeing 787
Two engine incidents involving Air New Zealand Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners occurred during December 2017 – both during climb on takeoff from Auckland, forcing them to turn back.
The 5 December incident required one engine to be shutdown in flight with photos showing damage to turbine blades. In the 6 December incident, the crew reduced thrust on the suspect engine before returning to Auckland.
Rolls-Royce advised the airline that its fleet’s Trent 1000 engines “require maintenance sooner than previously indicated”. Rolls-Royce regretted that it did not have any replacement engines available while the maintenance work is undertaken.
Air New Zealand then had to cancel or reschedule a number of international flights to accommodate urgent maintenance on the 787 engines from 7 December 2017, affecting services to Houston, Shanghai, Buenos Aires and Perth.
Flight NZ178 to Auckland, taxying out at 7:10am. Photo © David Eyre
Replacement aircraft
Air New Zealand then leased an Airbus A330-200 (CS-TQW from HiFly) to operate Auckland – Perth NZ175/176 services from 16 December 2017. At this time, it is expected the aircraft will be leased until 31 January 2018, though this could change.
A HiFly Airbus A340-300 will operate other Air New Zealand services from Auckland to Sydney.
Other services to Perth operated by Air New Zealand 787s are still suffering some schedule delays.
Flew Hi Fly Auckland to Perth Feb 21st and disappointed with service and features on this leased aircraft A340-200. Seat 3k did not function and I was not advised of this. Limited entertainment after experiencing 3 good flights on Boeings Perth to Auckland and Auckland to Buenos Aires and return Hopefully engine maintenance issues will solved soon and ANZ can revert to the newer planes
Flew Syd-Auk on Jan30…good aircraft and exceptional service..no problems flying HiFly again
It’s a s..t plane and if that’s the best Air New Zealand can do, I WILL NOT FLY on Air New Zealand again.
My sentiments exactly. We returned to Perth from Auckland last Wednesday, 21st Feb and they’re still using this substandard plane. The seat ranked with the worst I’ve encountered and the plane was an hour late leaving Auckland due to mechanical issues.
Worst of all was the staff, both flight and cabin crew. Air NZ are not allowed to take charge of borrowed aircraft. Flight crew announcements were diff8cult to the nderstand and cabin crew service was markedly below standard!
Avoid Air NZ like the plague until they resolve their issues.
I heard some not very good comments about this airline, I was due to fly Air New Zealand tomorrow & iv been advised that’s it’s HiFly airline now !
Not looking forward to this flight, if I’d known this before I would have looked at an alternate airline
Hey, how did you go?? I leave for Auckland Monday. I have the worst anxiety on planes I had no idea they were leasing a plane!!!
Depends which flight you’re on NZ175 & NZ176 use the leased Airbus A340.
Other services use the Boeing 787-9.
This will continue until April 2018.