Air New Zealand relies heavily on ATR 72-600 and De Havilland Canada Dash 8-300 turboprops to serve New Zealand’s domestic routes. The airline operates 29 ATRs and 23 Dash 8-300s, which makes it the largest operator of the Dash 8-300 in the world. New Zealand is home to 5 million people, and many of its population centers are small and scattered across the elongated mountainous islands. On land, there can be long travel times from one end of the country to another.
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The Problem With Air New Zealand’s Ultra Long-Haul Flight
- Guest authors
- April 18, 2026
- 0
Just because aircraft can make ultra-long-haul routes easier to operate doesn’t mean that they’re a straight ticket to profitability, as Air New Zealand is finding out with its nearly 18-hour flagship route between Auckland and New York. This route was initially successful, but today it’s no longer profitable for Air New Zealand.