Air New Zealand, CCO, Jeremy O'Brien at the CAPA Airline Leader Summit Australia Pacific 2025

Transcript

Jeremy O'Brien:Jeremy, what's the latest from Air New Zealand? Yeah, look, we're really excited. We're able to grow on the Tasman. We've got 1.7 million seats for next northern winter. That's 130,000 extra seats than we had the previous season. And, you know, the ability to do that has been driven by the fact that We've got some new A321 deliveries that we're now able to operate, so it means we're able to grow, put some extra frequencies into the likes of Auckland-Perth. So we'll go up to 9 times a week over peak in northern winter there. We're doing that because we see significant demand on that route. We've also got opportunities where we're introducing new markets like Christchurch-Adelaide. That gives us the ability to take some feed out of the South Island directly into Adelaide. and complement our Auckland-Adelaide services. And then we're also able to put additional capacity and frequency into markets that are still showing the ability to flex with additional capacity because of the demand there. So Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, and all of the Queensland markets as well, continuing to show really great sustainable demand. And so it's a good use of our capital and growth. So it's really exciting to be growing on the Tasman again. Yes, Skynest is a bit like bunk beds in the sky. So it's 6 bunk beds, they sit between the premium economy and our economy cabin. They will go on to our ultra-long-haul aircraft. They come into our fleet in February and March of next year, and that aircraft is specifically designed and configured to fly those ultra-long-haul durations and routes. So it'll be on Auckland-New York to begin with, And Skynest gives that ability for an economy passenger to buy a block of respite from the cabin and get some rest and some sleep and some quiet time. And so we'll sell it in 3, 4-hour blocks. There'll be about 12 hours over that flight period that we sell it on. That's to take into account taxi, takeoff, and landing. So, you know, you've got kind of 60 to 90 minutes either side, a meal service. And then within that you've got these really nice 3-4 hour blocks that we'll have, so essentially kind of 18 opportunities to get some lie-flat downtime in the economy cabin. And we think that's important because one of the challenges with ultra-long-haul flying is just that duration and the ability to get to the other end in reasonable state, and Skynest provides that opportunity for an economy customer. to get some good sleep and rest over that flight. Fantastic. I've loved CAPA, it's been fantastic. This is my first CAPA, I'm ashamed to say, and I will be coming back. What's fantastic about it is there's not that often you get to just down tools and sit with your industry colleagues and talk about the mutual challenges that you face, how you lean into those, and kind of go in and look at the health of the overarching industry. And so for me, it's been wonderful to firstly catch up with some old colleagues in the aviation sector, but also meet some new connections. And I know that this is going to foster some ongoing communication for us as we all tackle both the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead for this sector. Thank you.

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