Travel News: The code sharing agreement between Air New Zealand and Japan’s All Nippon Airways has come into effect this week; under the agreement ANZ has relocated its operations at Narita Airport to sit alongside facilities that were in use by ANA and the other Star Alliance members.

The move comes as part of the plans by ANZ to increase the number of tourists that come from Japan, these numbers have been decreasing each year; however took a massive hit with the disasters that affected each country last year. Numbers were once as high as 160,000; however the earthquakes have meant that these figures were now down as low as 60,000.

Europe and other Asian destinations
The previous code sharing deal with Oneworld carrier Japan Air Lines has now finished, the new deal will see ANZ being able to reach far more destinations beyond just Tokyo and Osaka, ANZ said that, “it will open up a new corridor of travel for the company, including routes into Europe and other Asian destinations.” It is thought that ANZ will be looking to develop specific routes into cities like; London, Paris, Frankfurt and Munich with the links that ANA already have in place.

This close link with ANA will make it much easier for New Zealand travellers to use Japan as another hub for taking connecting flights into Europe and other Asian destinations.

Another area that the airlines have in common is that they both have orders for the new Boeing Dreamliner aircraft, although there have been doubts cast by ANZ that the deadlines for delivery will be met. The New Zealand carrier has 10 orders for the B787-9; however concerns over supply of the new aircraft have been noted by bosses at ANZ for quite some time; so much so that they are considering keeping a number of their present 747 fleet in operation after the initial retirement scheduled date.

787-9 is still the right aircraft
Air New Zealand have continually maintained that the new Boeing airliner is the right fit for their company, recently their CEO Rob Fyfe had talked about “frustrating and costly delays”, however went on to add that “we strongly believe that the 787-9 aircraft is the right aircraft for ANZ and will be worth the wait”. To re-affirm its commitment to the new fleet, ANZ increased its orders for the new aircraft from 8 to 10.
Air New Zealand would have been hoping to be able to have the first flights in or out of New Zealand with the new aircraft; however it is likely to be pipped to the post by United airlines who have announced plans for a new Auckland-Houston service for later this year.

Boeing’s main competitor Airbus already has huge numbers of order for their equivalent aircraft, the A350. It is thought that their largest customer Qatar Airlines who have orders for over 80 of the new A350’s will take delivery of the first of these wide bodied planes during the first half of 2014.