Air New Zealand chief executive Christopher Luxon (left), Prime Minister John Key, and ATR chief executive Patrick de Castelbajac at the announcement Air New Zealand was buying 15 new ATR-600s.
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The national carrier will buy the ATR72-600 aircraft to replace 11 of its ATR72-500 fleet while the four extra planes, each able to carry 68 passengers, will allow domestic growth.
The new 68-seat turboprop aircraft, which are collectively valued at US$375 million, will be delivered to the airline from late 2016 onwards.
In 2012 the airline announced it would add to its French-manufactured ATR fleet with an investment in 14 ATR72-600 aircraft.
At the company’s annual meeting last month, Mr Luxon said the airline is spending $2.6 billion in the next four years on new aircraft, including a further seven Dreamliners.
The additional 15 aircraft would begin arriving from late 2016.
In addition to its ATR aircraft, Air New Zealand’s regional fleet also includes 10 19-seat Beech 1900Ds and 23 50-seat Bombardier Q300s.
Earlier this year, Air New Zealand scrapped flights to Kaitaia, Whakatane and Westport.
It has been flying ATR aircraft since 1995 and the ATR72-600 is the third model it had flown, Luxon said.
Air NZ’s Christchurch-based subsidiary Mount Cook Airline operates the aircraft on both regional routes and on a few off-peak flights on the mainline trunk from Wellington to Christchurch.
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Luxon said it was a sign of confidence the airline had in regional New Zealand. (Map generated by the Great Circle Mapper at gcmap.com.) Yet if Air NZ did want to operate turboprop aircraft in strong Roaring Forties headwinds between, say, Auckland and Invercargill at the southern tip of the South Island, the additional range could prove useful.
