Air New Zealand (NZX: AIR) has today announced the ALIA as the airline’s first purchase of a next generation aircraft in its Mission Next Gen Aircraft program.
Designed by electric aerospace company BETA Technologies, the battery-powered all-electric aircraft is expected to join Air New Zealand’s fleet in 2026. Air New Zealand is purchasing the conventional take-off and landing version of the ALIA.
The announcement follows an 18-month period of evaluation and diligence by Air New Zealand. Through the airline’s Mission Next Gen Aircraft program, it sought and received ideas and insights from 30 organisations, selecting four partners to work closely with on its goal of launching commercial flights using next generation aircraft in 2026. BETA’s ALIA is the first commercial order in the program.
Air New Zealand will initially operate the aircraft as a cargo only service in partnership with New Zealand Post, on a route being selected through an expressions of interest (EOI) process with airports across Aotearoa.
(Reuters) – The coronavirus outbreak has virtually shut down corporate Australia and New Zealand, forcing companies to throw out their strategic plans and resulting in thousands of layoffs or staff suspensions.
Listed companies in both the countries have already laid off or began considering laying off more than 100,000 people, temporarily or permanently, highlighting the toll on livelihoods as virtual shutdowns take hold.
Ultimately, economists forecast the crisis will more than double unemployment to more than 11%, the highest in three decades.
AIRLINES
* Qantas Airways to place 20,000 workers on leave until at least the end of May.
* Virgin Australia to stand down 8,000 employees until the end of May.
* Air New Zealand to lay off nearly a third of its employees, about 3,500, in the coming months, and said that was a “conservative” assumption.
CASINOS
* Star Entertainment Group says 90% of its workforce, or 9,000 people, will be placed on leave due to mandated casino closures.
* Crown Resorts Ltd stood down about 95% or more than 11,500 of its employees on a full or temporary basis as gaming and other non-essential services at its resorts in Melbourne and Perth were suspended.
* SkyCity Entertainment Group has laid off or furloughed at least 1,100 of its staff across Australia and New Zealand.
RETAIL
* Department store operator Myer Holdings will temporarily lay off 10,000 of its staff without pay.
* Kathmandu Holdings Ltd, the outdoor apparel retailer that owns Rip Curl, said most of its global stores were closed and almost all its staff in Australia will be stood down for four weeks without pay. It has around 4,000 employees globally.
* Home ware retailer Smiths City Group Ltd stands down almost all of its 465 employees on 80% of their salary.
* Retail Food Group will stand down or reduce the working hours of the majority of its 500 employees.
* Premier Investments, owner of Smiggle, Just Jeans and chains, is standing down 9,000 employees, most without pay
* Jeweller Michael Hill International is putting staff on leave in Australia, New Zealand and Canada. The company employs about 2,500.
* Fashion retailer Mosaic Brands is standing down 6,800 due to store closures.
* Footwear retailer Accent Group stands down all its retail employees and most support staff for four weeks without pay. The company reportedly employs 5,700.
HOSPITALITY
* Pub and hotel operator Redcape Hotel Group will cut most permanent staff. It employs 800.
* ALH Group, the pubs and hotels group majority-owned by Woolworths, will stand down about 8,000 staff.
TRAVEL AGENTS
* Flight Centre is cutting or putting on leave a third of its 20,000 staff.
* Helloworld Travel lays off 275 people and temporarily stands two-thirds of its 1,800 workforce until the end of May.
HEALTH AND EXERCISE
* Viva Leisure lays off more than 90% of its 2,200 workforce.
* Dental group Abano Healthcare will stand down majority of its 2,300 employees at its operations in Australia and New Zealand.
HIRING:
On the other hand, some companies are hiring under the new circumstances.
* Australia’s biggest supermarket chain Woolworths to hire 20,000 in the next month. Some of the new hires will be those re-deployed from its the pubs and hotels business, ALH Group. Woolworths also plans to offer short-term roles to 5,000 Qantas employees put on leave.
* Coles has added 7,000 people to its ranks, and said it plans to hire another 5,000 to meet increasing demand at its supermarkets and liquor stores.
* Australia’s biggest telecom company Telstra will freeze a 6,000-employee cull and hire 1,000 due to growing volumes at call centres.
* BHP Group, the world’s biggest miner, says it will hire 1,500 temporary workers, some to be offered permanent roles after six months.
(Reporting by Nikhil Kurian Nainan and Anushka Trivedi in Bengaluru; Editing by Byron Kaye, Shounak Dasgupta and Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
SHANGHAI (Reuters) – Foreign airlines that fly on 20 popular long-haul routes to China will face fresh competitive pressure as Beijing begins to ease decade-old restrictions on Oct. 1, allowing more Chinese carriers to offer service.
The change affects about 20 percent of Chinese long-haul daily capacity, according to data compiled for Reuters by Chinese aviation data firm Variflight.
It will turn up the heat on U.S. and European carriers like United Airlines (UAL.O) and Air France KLM (AIRF.PA), which have higher costs, lower outbound demand from their countries and less cultural appeal to Chinese travelers.
“The North American and European airlines are no match for the Chinese carriers,” said Corrine Png, chief executive of Singapore-based transport consultancy Crucial Perspective, citing the majority of traffic being driven by Chinese customers.
Some have already abandoned Chinese routes, with American Airlines (AAL.O) recently planning to drop Shanghai-Chicago service after also cancelling Beijing-Chicago and describing the routes as a “colossal loss-maker” that cost it $30 million a year.
The “one route, one airline” policy had been in place since 2009; altering it now is a response to the changing aviation market, China’s Civil Aviation Authority has said.
Two of the routes, Shanghai-Paris and Shanghai-Frankfurt, already have two Chinese airlines flying them but can add one more.
‘LITTLE INFLUENCE’
Variflight’s chief data analyst, Cong Wei, said Chinese airlines controlled about 50 percent of the seats on the 20 routes, which include Beijing-Los Angeles and Shanghai-London, and had the potential for a much higher share.
These routes are divided up between state-controlled carriers China Eastern Airlines Corp Ltd <600115.SS>, China Southern Airlines Co <600029.SS> and Air China Ltd <601111.SS>.
They compete against foreign airlines including Air France KLM, Lufthansa (LHAG.DE), Air Canada (AC.TO), British Airways (ICAG.L), Virgin Atlantic [VA.UL], Air New Zealand (AIR.NZ), United Airlines, Delta Air Lines (DAL.N) and American Airlines.
An Air France KLM spokeswoman said the company was monitoring the regulation change but had “very little influence on how this rule could evolve.”
“Competition between Europe and China is already present and increasing,” the spokeswoman said. “We continue to enhance our existing partnerships to offer the most attractive products and services at competitive fares to all our customers. This is undoubtedly the best response to this eventuality.”
Delta Air Lines said China continued to be an important market for its long-term network and that it was well positioned because of its partnership with China Eastern. Air New Zealand said it was aware of the change and was constantly assessing new route opportunities.
Lufthansa, Air Canada, British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, United Airlines and American Airlines did not respond to requests for comment.
TIE-UPS
The policy would also likely hurt incumbent Chinese airlines like Air China, which under the old rules had been able to dominate the Beijing-Los Angeles route. Many Chinese airlines are already facing falling returns on their international business.
Rivals like Hainan Airlines <600221.SS>, China’s fourth-largest carrier, have been expanding their international business in secondary routes and could take on new ones, analysts said. Out of the 20 routes opening for competition, Hainan only flies between Beijing and Toronto.
China Eastern and China Southern, headquartered respectively in Shanghai and Guangzhou, are also expected to launch new routes from Beijing once the Chinese capital’s new second airport opens in late 2019, giving the two state-owned airlines secondary bases.
The opening of Beijing Daxing International Airport was a catalyst for the government’s decision to change the route policy, the Chinese aviation regulator said in May.
China Southern said it supported the policy change, while China Eastern declined to comment. Air China and Hainan Airlines did not respond to requests for comment.
Li Xiaojin, a professor at the Civil Aviation University of China, said foreign carriers could focus on developing services for the luxury end of the Chinese market or deepen recently forged tie-ups with Chinese carriers to try to retain a competitive edge.
Delta Air Lines and American Airlines respectively have small equity stakes in China Eastern and China Southern, while China Eastern owns a 8.8 percent stake in Air France KLM.
But Li said the ultimate winner would be Chinese travellers.
“By liberalizing international air rights, airlines will put more capacity on popular routes, at hot timings … and provide passengers with safe, more convenient, more comfortable and economical services,” he said.
(Reporting by Brenda Goh; Additional reporting by SHANGHAI Newsroom; Editing by Gerry Doyle)
Air New Zealand and United Airlines have agreed to form a joint venture between the air carriers. The agreement between the two Star Alliance partners will take effect this coming July, when United Airlines starts its service between San Francisco, California and Auckland, New Zealand. The terms call for coordinating sales and marketing between the two airlines, as well as tweaking of the airlines’ schedules for optimum through passenger connections.
Air New Zealand Route Network and Aircraft
Air New Zealand currently provides nonstop service from its base in Auckland, New Zealand to four US cities and Vancouver, Canada. The US cities served are Honolulu, Hawaii, Houston, Texas, as well as Los Angeles and San Francisco, California. New Zealand has been enjoying an increase in tourism the last few years, with over 3 million visitors in calendar 2015. The joint venture between Air New Zealand and United Airlines will offer up to 33 weekly flights between the mainland US and New Zealand during the upcoming December to January peak travel periods, providing customers more choice of flight times and better connections.
Air New Zealand will continue to operate its Boeing 777-300 ER and Boeing 777-200 ER aircraft between San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Houston to and from Auckland with Business Premier, Premium Economy, and Economy class service, including the airlines Economy Skycouch option. United Airlines will initially operate Boeing 787-8 aircraft on its routes, before upgrading the aircraft in November of 2016 to the larger capacity Boeing 787-9 aircraft model. Both United 787 versions will offer United Business First and United Economy, including the airlines Economy Plus seating option.
