Yesterday in Auckland, Air New Zealand announced it was downgrading its profit outlook for the first half of the 2025 financial year. In delivering its annual results for the 2024 financial year in August, the airline said it faced tough headwinds and outlined several factors it expected would impact in the twelve months to June 30, 2025. The engine issues just won't go away Air New Zealand was an early customer of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner powered by the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines , inducting its first 787-9 in July 2015.
It has struggled with various engine issues since then, and here we are nearly a decade later, with up to four of its 14 Dreamliners grounded. Exacerbating that are the problems with the Pratt & Whitney GTF (geared turbofan) engines that power new-generation Airbus A320neo and A321neo aircraft, which are potentially the most profitable in the Air New Zealand fleet. The airline has 12 Airbus A321neos with an average age of just four years, but because of durability issues with the Pratt & Whitney GTF engines, up to six have been grounded.
Two of the airline's most productive and important aircraft types have been impacted for months, if not years, forcing up to 10 to be grounded, around 16% of Air New Zealand's entire jet fleet. Equally as concerning is that after recent discussions with the engine makers, Air New Zealand "does not expect these availability issues to ease until early 2026 ," although it is trying to add more capacity by leasing aircraft .
