Air New Zealand Receives First Retrofitted Boeing 787-9 Featuring Business Premier Luxe Seats

As I’ve covered in the fleet-dedicated post, Air New Zealand is a fascinating carrier. The airline operates some of the shortest routes in the world alongside some of the longest. The location of the country and its geography makes air travel a basic necessity for trade and business. Air New Zealand is also notable to be among airlines which in the past offered first class as a product and in recent years have transitioned it to what I call a Premium Business Class product. This transition has made further progress with the arrival of the newly and first retrofitted Boeing 787-9.

First Air New Zealand Retrofitted Boeing 787-9 Returns With New Business Premier Luxe Cabins

This time the focus of the news is the long haul aircraft fleet, specifically the Boeing 787-9s. Currently Air New Zealand has planes of this type with ages spanning from 6 to 11 years of age. They are by no means old by wide body aircraft standards, however, the cabins did feel like they were lagging behind what other carriers currently offer, even on flights in and out of New Zealand.

Therefore the airline has decided take on the retrofitting of its entire Boeing 787-9 aircraft fleet. What that means is Air New Zealand is removing the old interiors from these aircraft, replacing them with new generation seats designed from the ground up. The new design is though to take full advantage of the space the Dreamliner cabin offers. Additionally the new cabins follow a trend which is widespread among major carriers these days which is that to cater more and more to the premium segment of travelers.

I refer to that because the prior configuration of the Air New Zealand Boeing 787-9 featured a 3 class layout comprised of:

• 18 or 27 business class seats
• 21 or 33 premium economy seats
• 263 or 215 economy class seats

The two different layouts will be consolidated into one 4 class layout. They will be:

• 4 Business Premier Luxe Seats
• 22 Business Premier Seats
• 33 Premium Economy Seats
• 213 Economy Class Seats

Business Premier Luxe, is the airline’s new premium Business Class product, which has replaced what once used to be first class. Transforming first class to a Premium Business class, or removing it in whole, is something that has become more common among carriers.

What Does The ANZ Boeing 787 Cabin Retrofit Entail?

A lot has changed the first Air New Zealand Boeing 787-9 that has been retrofitted. The main aspects that are getting a sprucing up are:

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

A Long Process – One Air New Zealand 787 Retrofitted 13 To Go

The process is a long one. It involves stripping the entire cabin interiors and fitting the new ones in. The first aircraft (Boeing 787-9 registered ZK-NZH) to undergo the retrofitting flew over to Singapore, where MRO in charge of the work is located, in October 2024. It stayed there for a total of 184 days (over 6 months), before returning to New Zealand.

The aircraft will now be undergoing further work in Air New Zealand’s facilities to apply finishing touches to the IFE system, while the cabin crew get additional service training before the aircraft returns to service in mid-May.

The second aircraft to undergo the renovation will be Boeing 787-9 registered ZK-NZI. This plane is already in Singapore, having arrived there on March 29th 2025.

It is estimated that the entire Air New Zealand Boeing 787-9 fleet will be retrofitted by the end of 2026. That means the pace will pick up significantly in terms of how long it takes to complete the work on each plane.

The Disappearing First Class – Something Not Unique to Air New Zealand

Although there has been a surge in demand for premium cabins, particularly post-2020, it hasn’t really boosted first class bookings. Most additional premium cabin bookings involved either premium economy or business class. This has further pushed airlines, like Air New Zealand, to remove First Class.

Some airlines, such as Air New Zealand and Oman Air, have chosen to divest from this travel class by transforming it into a Premium Business class of sorts. That is exactly what Business Premier Luxe is.

Other airlines such as Korean Air, which has started removing first class from part of its fleet, and Qatar Airways have done, focusing more on their Business and Premium Economy products.