Air New Zealand Retrofitting Entire Boeing 787 Fleet With New Interiors

It’s an exciting time for Air New Zealand, as the Star Alliance carrier is in the process of retrofitting its entire Boeing 787 Dreamliner fleet with new interiors. I want to provide an update on this project, as the first jet has now been reconfigured.

Air New Zealand updating all 787 cabins by late 2026

In 2022, Air New Zealand announced plans to introduce an all-new business class product on its Boeing 787 fleet, in addition to updated premium economy and economy seats.

Initially, this was supposed to debut on newly delivered Boeing 787s, with plans to then later retrofit existing jets. However, due to delivery delays, that hasn’t worked out as planned. Instead, Air New Zealand’s new cabins are now debuting on existing jets.

Air New Zealand’s first 787 has just returned from Singapore, after spending six months there being reconfigured. It’s normal for the first jet to take a lot longer than others, since there are often kinks to work out, and certification can also take some time.

Specifically, the 787 with the registration code ZK-NZH has just returned to Auckland, and is expected to enter commercial service as of May 2025. Meanwhile a second 787, with the registration code ZK-NZI, has already arrived in Singapore, to undergo a refresh.

The plan is for all 14 787s to be reconfigured by the end of 2026, and for half of those to already be reconfigured by the end of 2025. So it’s a pretty aggressive retrofit schedule.

Interestingly, Air New Zealand claims to be the first airline in the world to retrofit a 787-9 nose-to-tail. This makeover includes:

• New seats in every cabin, including the new Business Premier Luxe seats in the Business Premier cabin
• New carpet throughout the aircraft
• New curtains between cabins and galleys
• New wallpaper, hands-free waste disposal, and amenity holders in the lavatories
• New inflight entertainment screens and system
• Sky Pantry installed in the Economy cabin

Here’s how Air New Zealand’s Chief Commercial Officer, Jeremy O’Brien, describes this project:

“Seeing the first of our 14 Dreamliners to undergo this transformation arrive home is a huge moment for our people, our customers, and the future of Air New Zealand. We’re so proud to deliver this new experience for those who fly with us around the world.”

“Now the aircraft is back on home soil, it will undergo final preparations including testing of its new inflight entertainment system, and a full crew ground trial to rehearse onboard service before welcoming customers on board for the first time in mid-May.”

Air New Zealand planning standardized 275-seat layout

When Air New Zealand retrofits its Boeing 787-9s, the airline will introduce a single, standardized layout. Currently the airline has two Dreamliner layouts:

• Nine 787-9s have 302 seats, comprised of 18 business class seats, 21 premium economy seats, and 263 economy seats
• Five 787-9s have 275 seats, comprised of 27 business class seats, 23 premium economy seats, and 215 economy seats

Once these cabins are updated, Air New Zealand will have a standardized layout among retrofitted 787s, as all 787-9s will have 272 seats. This will include 26 business class seats (four Business Premier Luxe seats and 22 Business Premier seats), 33 premium economy seats, and 213 economy seats.

As you can see, the biggest change in terms of capacity is that premium economy is growing quite a bit compared to both of the existing configurations. Meanwhile business class capacity is also growing considerably compared to a majority of the jets.

Note that Air New Zealand will have a more premium layout on some newly delivered 787s, but all the retrofitted ones will have the same configuration. Having a standardized layout will be useful in terms of fleet planning. Furthermore, the lower capacity of the jet will be valuable in terms of being able to operate ultra long haul flights.

Bottom line

Air New Zealand has started the process of reconfiguring its Boeing 787 fleet. The first 787 has just returned to New Zealand, after spending around six months in Singapore undergoing a nose-to-tail retrofit project. The plane is expected to enter service in May 2025.

By the end of 2025, we should see half of Air New Zealand’s Dreamliner fleet with new cabins, and by the end of 2026, we should see Air New Zealand’s entire Dreamliner fleet with new cabins. The planes will even be configured in a standard layout, with new seats across cabins. While Air New Zealand’s new business class is hardly the most exciting product on the horizon, I’m still happy to see this fleet get some updates, as this is long overdue.

What do you make of Air Zealand retrofitting its Boeing 787 fleet?