Air New Zealand announces capacity cuts and sets emissions target

Melbourne, Australia - November 8, 2014: Air New Zealand Airbus A320-232 ZK-OJE on approach to land at Melbourne International Airport.

Air New Zealand has announced that it will operate a slightly reduced schedule of 1.5 percent fewer seats than originally planned, to combat staffing shortages. This means Air New Zealand’s domestic and international schedule will be operating at 90 per cent of pre-COVID capacity for the next six months.

Most customers who experience a flight change will be transferred to another flight on the same day for domestic travel, and for international travel, on the same day or a day on either side of their original booking. Where customers cannot be accommodated within these time frames, they may change their booking online, opt into credit or request a refund.

Those customers with changes will start to see them from today and will be automatically transferred to another flight. Those with further onward connections may also be disrupted and we will work through these directly with impacted customers.

Air New Zealand CEO Greg Foran said making these changes now gives customers advance notice and will help the airline provide a service that’s more reliable during its rebuild.

“Like many airlines around the world, we’ve been ramping up our operation at a time when COVID and the flu continues to impact the aviation industry,” Foran said.

“Looking at the disruptions our customers and staff have faced over the past five weeks, we’ve made some adjustments to reduce short-notice cancellations in the months ahead.

“While we did factor sickness into our ramp up plan, we’ve seen the highest rates of crew sickness in over a decade. We see these challenges continuing not just for crew, but for our whole operation, and so we’re making proactive changes to address them.”

Foran says reducing the number of flights means the airline will be able to have crew on standby to cover illness, which has not been possible lately.

Alongside the airlines capacity cut, Air New Zealand has set a target to reduce carbon emissions by 2030.

The interim target, validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), requires a 28.9 per cent reduction in carbon intensity by 2030, from a 2019 baseline. This equates to a 16.3 per cent reduction in absolute emissions over the period.

Air New Zealand chief operational integrity and safety officer David Morgan said this is a critical milestone on the airline’s journey to net zero carbon emissions by 2050 as it provides a clear signal of where we need to be by 2030, in order to meet the 2050 goal.

“This interim target will drive activity today and set the airline up for success in achieving its net zero 2050 target,” Morgan said.

“Getting the target validated by the SBTi was a rigorous process and something we are incredibly proud to have achieved. Our GHG emissions were reviewed in detail by the SBTi to ensure we had an accurate emissions baseline and science-based target set.

“This target makes us accountable today. Implementing our decarbonisation roadmap will be critical to achieving this target – with sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), continued fleet renewal, operational efficiency, and zero emissions aircraft technologies all playing a role.”

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air new zealand Carbon emissions goal Carbon emissions offset David Morgan Greg Foran Science Based Targets initiative sustainable aviation fuel