Air New Zealand has signed a deal with American lessor Air Lease Corporation to lease a 15 year-old B777-300ER aircraft.
The aircraft, formerly leased to Cathay Pacific, arrived in Auckland in mid-October and is currently undergoing maintenance.
The B777 has been registered as ZK-OKU in the New Zealand aircraft registry.
Air New Zealand CEO Greg Foran mentioned the lease in September, without specifying the source, as the aircraft will help alleviate capacity issues.
ZK-OKU will operate a 3x weekly Melbourne-Auckland-Houston-Auckland-Melbourne route and a few flights to Sydney in November.
The aircraft has superior premium cabins but lacks inflight WiFi due to Air New Zealand’s absence of a contract with the installed Panasonic system.
In addition, the wet-lease agreement with Wamos Air for an A330-200 on the Auckland-Perth route will end on October 28, 2023. This return of the A330 to Spain is expected to put pressure on Air New Zealand’s widebody stock.
