Production delays at Boeing have seen Air New Zealand (NZ, Auckland International) push back receipt of additional B787s by 12 months. The airline has eight of the aircraft on order, including two B787-9s and six B787-10s, but Richard Thomson, Chief Financial Officer, told an earnings call last week that the first two are now due in the 2025 financial year, with two more arriving the following year and four in 2027. The New Zealand financial year ends on March 31.
"The expected timing of the first few aircraft has been adjusted to reflect our current view of likely delivery dates following discussions with Boeing as they work through production rates," said Thomson. "The first two aircraft are now expected to be delivered in financial year 2025 rather than 2024."
The CFO added that the retrofit of the existing fourteen B787-9s is expected to commence no earlier than 2024 and take several years to complete at a total cost of NZD450 million (USD275.7 million).
Boeing paused the handover of B787s in May 2021 following a series of production issues and Federal Aviation Administration - FAA intervention. It only recently recommenced deliveries. However, as a lengthy backlog has since accumulated and production rates remain far lower than previously anticipated, delivery dates for many airlines have now been blown out.
Thomson added that capital expenditure on new aircraft will peak in 2027 (at over NZD650 million (USD398 million)) but taper off sharply after that, with no aircraft capex commitments after 2028.
"Our fleet networks and sustainability teams have been engaging heavily with manufacturers and startups on future hybrid and electric aircraft focused on our domestic network, which will result in some future commitments to replace the DHC-8-300 fleet, but nothing at this stage."
