Air New Zealand announces order for 15 ATR 72-600 for fleet renewal, growth

Air New Zealand announced (05-Nov-2015) an order for 15 ATR 72-600 aircraft for further growth on regional services, and as replacement's for Mount Cook Airline's fleet of 11 ATR 72-500s. The additional 15 aircraft will commence delivery in late 2016. Air New Zealand CEO Christopher Luxon said: "[This] will enable us to operate up to an additional 600,000 seats into the New Zealand regional market annually... Once these new aircraft arrive we will operate a fleet of 29 ATR aircraft, the third largest ATR fleet in the world." According to the CAPA Fleet Database, Mount Cook Airline currently operates 11 ATR 72-500 and six 72-600 on behalf of Air New Zealand. Prior to this order, Air New Zealand had three ATR 72-600 remaining on order. [more - original PR]