Air New Zealand orders 7 more A321Neos

Air New Zealand has officially announced that it has ordered 7 additional A321NEOs as the carrier is convinced that this is the right aircraft to be used on high volume domestic + selected trans-tasman multiple daily services to Australia where it competes against wide body flights operated by Qantas.

ANZ thus joins a growing list of legacy carriers who have ended up ordering more A321Neos versus A320Neos to meet their narrow body fleet requirements for the 2020-30 period. In total, this will result in ANZ having 15 A321Neos operating along side 7 A320Neos. 

The carrier also put forward a tender requirement to fully replace its aging fleet of B777-200ERs identifying the B787-10 and Airbus A350 family to be part of it.

Comments:

NZ's current wide body fleet consists of B77Ws, B772s and B789s. The B789 of NZ seats between 275-302 pax whilst their B772ER seats 312. Therefore with the airline already being used to operating the B789 which can also fly further than the B772ER, there is no logical reason for the carrier to consider adding a new type to the fleet mix i.e. A359 just so that it can operate nonstop flights to U.S. East Coast. 

The B789 is perfectly suited for its entire Asian network along with selected North American services whilst the extra capacity of the B77W does the same job for the high demand LAX/LHR daily services.