June 8, 2026 • 5 mins
Air New Zealand has indicated its long-running engine problems may have come to an end.
Air New Zealand’s chief has claimed the airline reached a breakthrough in Brazil this weekend after years of crippling engine issues.
Aviation industry expert Grant Bradley explained further.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Air New Zealand says, finally something's going right. They say
their long running engine problems are finally easing. So in
recent years, up to twenty percent of the airline's fleet
has been grounded by global engine maintenance delays, and the
airline estimates those disruptions cost it about ninety million dollars
in earnings in the first half of the financial year.
(00:23):
But chief executive nik Ravishanka says by the end of
the month only two aircraft will still be unfliable. So
Grant Bradley is an aviation industry expert, former New Zealand
Herald aviation journalist, former correspondent with me on the Afternoon
The Hour show. Grant loving to talk to you again.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Absolutely nice to speak Andrew.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Finally a win for Air New Zealand. Something's going right.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Yeah, yeah, Look, it's could turn out to be a
decade of pain. Really. They started having problems with Rolls
Voice engines on their Dreamliners back in two thousand and
seventy and these were quite severe problems that needed a
very quick fix. But it turned out to be a
long running problem with them. But you know, sides law.
(01:12):
They also had an aircraft, sorry, an engine type on
their smaller planes domestic and short haul planes. The'sprett and
Whitney engines that turned out also needed a major fix
and so almost unique and among airlines and having both
(01:37):
engine types, so extremely bad luck but light at then
the tunnel.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Is this going to get their bottom line out of
a nos edave?
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Yeah, look, this is its early days really on that front.
I think some analysts have been picking a four year
loss of four hundred million plus that will sea reporter
and all this. So yeah, that's a that's a that's
a huge hole arm to to fill and then recover from.
(02:10):
But this is this is you know, it could be
the start of the recovery. They're with you sorry, with
their all their existing fleet back in action by the
beginning of next year at the latest. And and also
more exciting is seeing new Dreamliners come into their fleet
(02:32):
with brand new cabins and designed for these ultra long
haul routes. The the it's a it's a multi year
recovery from from the hole therein.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
But yeah, yeah, now look, this engine thing has been
going on for seven years, right and or you see
basically a decade of problems. But yeah, it's been going
on for seven years, and it was all resolved and
all talked about at the World Airline Summit, and they
head of that conference, which was held in Brazil, said
that the engine factories have been gouging the airlines and
(03:07):
taking how long it took to fix the problem and
all that, and the fact that the problem was a
problem in the first place. Do you think he was right?
Are the engine factories gouging airlines?
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Yeah? Look, there are engine makers, airframe makers like Airbus
and Boeing. They're they're profit driven companies. They're going to
get what they can by selling what they what they make,
so and then when things go wrong, the recovery is
(03:39):
not always as quick as what it should be. There's
been tens of millions of dollars being paid in compensation here,
but that hasn't hasn't gone anywhere near covering the opportunity
costs that's been lost by in New Zealand by not
having aircraft to fly people around, especially maybe eighteen months
(04:01):
a year ago when there was huge demand, but they
didn't never the planes. Yeah, And I guess in a way,
rather ironically, they're finally getting all their planes back at
a time when they're actually having to trim roots because
of the current fuel crisis.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Well, I was going to ask about that. I was
going to ask about that because this summit in Brazil
is all the airlines getting together and having a chinwar,
and so they'll be talking about the situation in the
straight up horror moves and the implications of the Iran
Israel USA conflict. Are you hearing anything coming out of that?
That's about how airlines are getting through and what they're expecting.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Oh, look, the airlines of the figures don't look great.
They were expecting to among them make profits of around
about forty billion this year. Now that's been half that
outlook's been halved, and that's on the back of the
seventy percent rise jet fuel prices. You know, just how
(05:03):
quickly they can recover that is the great question.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
You know.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
It's the airline, So they burn money quickly, but they
can earn money quickly, and they can turn around these
losses into into superprofits quite quickly if they get the
tail wins and it does happen. It's very highly volatile sector.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Absolutely, all right, great, love you to talk to you again.
Carry on with the good work at IS seventeen minutes
to seven. This is News Talks B Now.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
For more from Heather Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to
News Talk se B from four pm weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio
Air New Zealand says, finally something's going right. They say
their long running engine problems are finally easing. So in
recent years, up to twenty percent of the airline's fleet
has been grounded by global engine maintenance delays, and the
airline estimates those disruptions cost it about ninety million dollars
in earnings in the first half of the financial year.
(00:23):
But chief executive nik Ravishanka says by the end of
the month only two aircraft will still be unfliable. So
Grant Bradley is an aviation industry expert, former New Zealand
Herald aviation journalist, former correspondent with me on the Afternoon
The Hour show. Grant loving to talk to you again.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Absolutely nice to speak Andrew.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Finally a win for Air New Zealand. Something's going right.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Yeah, yeah, Look, it's could turn out to be a
decade of pain. Really. They started having problems with Rolls
Voice engines on their Dreamliners back in two thousand and
seventy and these were quite severe problems that needed a
very quick fix. But it turned out to be a
long running problem with them. But you know, sides law.
(01:12):
They also had an aircraft, sorry, an engine type on
their smaller planes domestic and short haul planes. The'sprett and
Whitney engines that turned out also needed a major fix
and so almost unique and among airlines and having both
(01:37):
engine types, so extremely bad luck but light at then
the tunnel.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Is this going to get their bottom line out of
a nos edave?
Speaker 2 (01:46):
Yeah, look, this is its early days really on that front.
I think some analysts have been picking a four year
loss of four hundred million plus that will sea reporter
and all this. So yeah, that's a that's a that's
a huge hole arm to to fill and then recover from.
(02:10):
But this is this is you know, it could be
the start of the recovery. They're with you sorry, with
their all their existing fleet back in action by the
beginning of next year at the latest. And and also
more exciting is seeing new Dreamliners come into their fleet
(02:32):
with brand new cabins and designed for these ultra long
haul routes. The the it's a it's a multi year
recovery from from the hole therein.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
But yeah, yeah, now look, this engine thing has been
going on for seven years, right and or you see
basically a decade of problems. But yeah, it's been going
on for seven years, and it was all resolved and
all talked about at the World Airline Summit, and they
head of that conference, which was held in Brazil, said
that the engine factories have been gouging the airlines and
(03:07):
taking how long it took to fix the problem and
all that, and the fact that the problem was a
problem in the first place. Do you think he was right?
Are the engine factories gouging airlines?
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Yeah? Look, there are engine makers, airframe makers like Airbus
and Boeing. They're they're profit driven companies. They're going to
get what they can by selling what they what they make,
so and then when things go wrong, the recovery is
(03:39):
not always as quick as what it should be. There's
been tens of millions of dollars being paid in compensation here,
but that hasn't hasn't gone anywhere near covering the opportunity
costs that's been lost by in New Zealand by not
having aircraft to fly people around, especially maybe eighteen months
(04:01):
a year ago when there was huge demand, but they
didn't never the planes. Yeah, And I guess in a way,
rather ironically, they're finally getting all their planes back at
a time when they're actually having to trim roots because
of the current fuel crisis.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Well, I was going to ask about that. I was
going to ask about that because this summit in Brazil
is all the airlines getting together and having a chinwar,
and so they'll be talking about the situation in the
straight up horror moves and the implications of the Iran
Israel USA conflict. Are you hearing anything coming out of that?
That's about how airlines are getting through and what they're expecting.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Oh, look, the airlines of the figures don't look great.
They were expecting to among them make profits of around
about forty billion this year. Now that's been half that
outlook's been halved, and that's on the back of the
seventy percent rise jet fuel prices. You know, just how
(05:03):
quickly they can recover that is the great question.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
You know.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
It's the airline, So they burn money quickly, but they
can earn money quickly, and they can turn around these
losses into into superprofits quite quickly if they get the
tail wins and it does happen. It's very highly volatile sector.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Absolutely, all right, great, love you to talk to you again.
Carry on with the good work at IS seventeen minutes
to seven. This is News Talks B Now.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
For more from Heather Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to
News Talk se B from four pm weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio
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