Due to the border reopening last year, Air New Zealand carried 12.3 million customers and operated 152,000 flights across its domestic and international network in 2022. A whopping jump compared to 8 million customers and 118,721 flights the previous year. “If the year taught us anything it was that Kiwis absolutely love to travel around Aotearoa and overseas visitors have been longing for our borders to reopen,” says Air New Zealand chief customer and sales officer Leanne Geraghty.
“9.4 million customers travelled on our domestic network last year, up from 7.4 million passengers in 2021. With the international border reopening, 2.9 million customers travelled with us compared to half a million in 2021, providing significant and welcome support for Aotearoa’s ongoing tourism industry recovery.”
No surprises that Air New Zealand’s busiest day was 23 December with more than 55,0000 customers heading off on their holiday break. “With so many customers, there’s a lot of work behind the scenes – our cleaning team cleaned approximately 100,000 aircraft seats every week.” Our crew also helped quench customers’ thirst and handed out almost 4.9 million Cookie Time cookies, 12 million Air New Zealand lollies, and 1.6 million savoury snacks.
Customers also enjoyed the following – consuming more than double the amount compared to 2021:
- 340,454 litres of juice
- 353,748 litres of soft drink
- 219,900 litres of beer
- 117,308 litres of red wine
- 53,122 litres of Chardonnay
- 62,309 litres of Sauvignon Blanc
- 5,341 litres of Whiskey
- 810,875 crackers
And it’s not just a cookie and a cuppa that’s a match made in heaven, so too is the airline’s continued focus on sustainability. Last year, the airline announced four world-leading innovators have partnered with Air New Zealand to work on Mission Next Gen Aircraft to deliver the airline’s first zero emissions demonstrator flight in 2026. It was a busy year, especially for the airline’s cargo operation, with Air New Zealand carrying 114,000 tonnes of cargo across our international and domestic networks.
This includes:
- 13,250 tonnes of fresh produce (largest quantities being capsicums, blueberries, cherries, avocados, tomatoes)
- 5,800 tonnes of chilled meat (lamb, beef, chicken)
- 3,100 tonnes of chilled salmon
- 1,400 tonnes of lobster
- 5,700 tonnes of other seafood (fish, clams, tuna, mussels, oysters)
Air New Zealand helped transport 11,234 pets domestically and internationally last year. And not just the furry kind but birds, guinea pigs, lizards, rabbits, reptiles and even a frog and a turtle. Last year Air New Zealand also welcomed back five of its Boeing 777s and introduced two new A321neos into its fleet, adding an extra 100,000 seats per aircraft adding more capacity to its domestic network.
To keep aircraft running smoothly, the Engineering and Maintenance team conducted 60 heavy maintenance checks in Christchurch, 130 A checks in Auckland (a calendar-based inspection process where technicians change filters, check, and lubricate critical systems) and there were 3,900 overnight light maintenance works carried out.
Chief customer and sales officer Leanne Geraghty says 2022 was an incredibly busy year with the border reopening. The airline restarted 24 international services – 14 of those across a 16-day period – and launched its new flagship service, NZ1, to New York. “I’m incredibly proud of the Air New Zealand team of 10,500, including the 2,200 new employees we brought on board throughout 2022 and all that’s been achieved last year. Things are certainly looking up for 2023 and we’re looking forward to carrying more customers, continuing to relocate native wildlife, transporting cargo, launching our winter route to Bali and everything in between!”
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