Air NZ expects 14k customers will be affected by 'unavoidable' engine checks over holidays

Air New Zealand has today announced 'unavoidable' flight cancellations due to checks on its Boeing Dreamliner engines, subsequently affecting 14,000 customers. 

The airline has suspended its twice-weekly seasonal Christchurch-Perth service, resulting in the cancellation of 62 flights.

Air New Zealand said it has 10 Trent 1000 engines fitted to its 787-9 fleet and has been working to minimise disruption, but schedule changes are now unavoidable.

The national carrier will also cancel its second daily Auckland-Perth service from 10 December 2019 until 5 January 2020. 

Outside the Perth cancellation, a limited number of international cancellations will also take place from 10 December until 2 January. 

Air New Zealand's Captain Dave Wilson says the company has been doing all it can to fast-track required maintenance from Rolls-Royce.

“Based on the maintenance needs of our engines, we expect some will need to be inspected in December and January and then serviced by Rolls-Royce offshore and unfortunately Rolls-Royce has no capacity to alleviate this pressure.

“We have 14 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft in our fleet and four spare engines to power these. However, all these spare engines are with Rolls Royce offshore either undergoing service or waiting for a service slot.”