AIR - Air NZ.

[Beagle]

I don't mind him cashing up some shares, he's done wonders for the company over a long period of time and has my respect, contrast that to another CEO with a name the sounds like Herd Licker and you get a totally different story.

I agree. He only sold a very small percentage of what he has after many years leading the airline. It doesn't hurt to show a bit of contrition and let customers know that you're trying your best. I actually think its a very good communication he's sent out. They really have been dealt a very harsh blow with this RR engine issue and being told it would all be resolved by April / May 2018 and then being let down really badly by RR... He's obviously frustrated. I think I'd be taking a high powered legal team on my visit to RR headquarters if I was him and be looking for a more comprehensive compensation package including more timely overhaul of the engines. He gets a bit carried away with environmental issues but he has my respect and I hope he stays long after this engine fiasco is finally over.

[Benny1]

AIR expecting at least 3 787's to be out of service for a while with the possibility of more from time to time as this engine situation evolves during the next year, there were four out of action last week. Have heard the new TEN engines may also be starting to suffer similar issues..
They have also taken a 777 out of the summer schedule to act as a spare to try to help keep the schedule intact as best they can.
The situation may get a lot worse, as the package "B" engines, mostly fitted to the earlier 787-8 aircraft are now also becoming caught up in this whole Rolls Royce fiasco.
This could potentially flood the Rolls Royce repair facilities even more, ( have heard somewhere that ANA has the potential to have 30 aircraft out of action over the next while), and they will have a hell of a lot more priority than AIR !
In fact that really wouldn't surprise me if this is was the reason why Mr Luxon is now getting his backside over to Rolls HQ !

A321NEO aircraft apparently have slipped back a couple of weeks as well. First two have been assembled and ZK-NNA has been painted, not quite sure of delivery dates yet...


http://www.aviation-friends-hamburg-....php?tid=13320

[Beagle]

Thanks for the feedback from the coalface Benny1. So nine months into this fiasco there's still no clear light at the end of the tunnel and AIR appear to be starting to wear some of the costs ($30-40m impact on FY19 profit as disclosed by the company) as well as massive customer inconvenience and some reputational damage. Pretty disappointing.

[iceman]

Thanks Benny1 for a good informative post. Been out of AIR since this first hit the news and have no intention of buying again while this potentially huge issue remains unsolved.

[iceman]

Just received the below email- They must be getting lots of negative feedback from frustrated customers:

Kia ora Iceman

As New Zealand’s national airline, I’m very conscious that we occupy a special place in the hearts of Kiwis. It’s an affection and responsibility that generations of Air New Zealand staff feel and has driven them to deliver a truly world class travel experience.

Frustratingly, our ability to deliver this over the past year has been severely impacted and many of our customers have experienced disruptions and delays, rescheduled flights, unexpected replacement aircraft and over-crowded lounges. I really do apologise and thank you for your patience and support of the airline at this time.

Consequently, I thought it might help if I shared some context with you as to what’s going on and more importantly what we are doing about it.

What's been going on?

It’s been an incredibly challenging year at Air New Zealand dealing with some extraordinary operational challenges that started with the rupture of the fuel pipeline north of Auckland and a series of extreme weather events. However, the biggest challenge has been the unscheduled global maintenance issues with the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines that power our 787 Dreamliners. Some of these engines have experienced durability issues which have increased the number and frequency of engineering checks required. This has meant that at any time up to five of our 13 787 Dreamliners must be grounded while the engines are serviced in Singapore.

This has placed significant pressure on our whole interconnected network of over 3,500 weekly flights and I will be meeting with Rolls Royce management in London in a few weeks to further seek personal reassurance that all is being done to get our affected engines back in service as soon as possible.

While I’m immensely proud of the agility and resilience of all Air New Zealanders in responding to these recent challenges, we now need to implement more assertive actions so that we can more reliably deliver our schedule for our customers.

What are we doing about it?

To cope with our reduced fleet, we have had to lease three other aircraft from two of the world’s top airlines. These are flown by Air New Zealand crew and have been equipped with our food and beverages, but do come with a different interior configuration to our own fleet.

We will also further protect ourselves from unexpected disruptions by stopping flying to Vietnam next year, suspending our services to Haneda in Tokyo and slightly reducing our frequency to Argentina and Taipei. These are big decisions to make but are vital to free up capacity and let us concentrate on delivering a better experience across the board.

Another issue that has disrupted our operations has been the significant increase in people passing through airports in New Zealand. Simply put, some airport facilities, especially in Auckland, are struggling to keep up with the surge in demand for air travel due to under investment by the airport companies. Currently, I am working with the Chief Executive Officers of several airports to do whatever we can to accelerate improvements. We have also invested in a lounge redevelopment programme and plans are well underway for a new regional lounge and upgraded domestic lounge in Auckland and another lounge at the international terminal. We also have upgrades planned at Wellington and several regional airports.

A strong theme of feedback from customers has been frustration about call wait times into the Contact Centre, especially during periods of weather disruptions. So, we’re in the process of hiring a further 80 Contact Centre employees and have committed to expanding the self-service options and digital tools over the next six months.

In closing, thank you for your loyalty, patience and support as we are working through these recent operational challenges. While these are not in our direct control, how we choose to respond certainly is.

Going forward, I want you to know that I am committed to keeping you informed each month and sharing the way that Air New Zealand will grow and adapt to continue delivering a truly world class travel experience.


Ngā mihi

Signature
Christopher Luxon

Chief Executive Officer

[Snow Leopard]

A couple of obvious questions:
1/ If you start and end a communication in Maori, why change to New Zenglish for the middle bit?
2/ How come AirNZ know everybody's ST nom de post?

[winner69]

Not all AIR Airpoints Customers (even some of those high up in the pecking order) got this email. Chatter is this is as weird as the email itself.

I feel left out, especially since the beagle who flys Jetstar got one

Chris has lost his vigour, his halo has lost its glow. He comes across pretty disinterested in AIR these days

He’ll be gone within the year. If he doesn’t get or turns down the Fonterra job he could end up standing in a conveniently instituted by election in a safe National seat with the promise of becoming the National Leader and next Prime Minister. (John’s told him it’s a pretty good career move)

[Beagle]

Not all AIR Airpoints Customers (even some of those high up in the pecking order) got this email. Chatter is this is as weird as the email itself.

I feel left out, especially since the beagle who flys Jetstar got one Not even if they paid me would I step on board their relic aircraft !

Chris has lost his vigour, his halo has lost its glow. He comes across pretty disinterested in AIR these days No, he's good mate, relax, its all good.

He’ll be gone within the year. If he doesn’t get or turns down the Fonterra job he could end up standing in a conveniently instituted by election in a safe National seat with the promise of becoming the National Leader and next Prime Minister. (John’s told him it’s a pretty good career move)

Then he could supercharge the whole N.Z. economy

[Beagle]

A couple of obvious questions:
1/ If you start and end a communication in Maori, why change to New Zenglish for the middle bit?
2/ How come AirNZ know everybody's ST nom de post?

1. Its perceived to be cool and politically correct to welcome and farewell in Maori but I agree 100% with the tone of what you're saying.
2. Could it be that Beagle and Iceman when coping and pasting the airpoints email changed their name and inserted their pseudonym. It would appear they also wisely deleted their full name and email address for obvious privacy reasons after the copy and paste

[iceman]

Sorry Beagle for the double up. Haven't been following the thread that closely and didn't realise you'd already posted Chris' email