Air New Zealand, Singapore Airlines Join Forces

Air New Zealand and Singapore Airlines have agreed to form an alliance enabling Air New Zealand to fly the Auckland-Singapore route again and Singapore Airlines to operate the Airbus A380 to New Zealand for the first time.

The A380 would be operated daily by Singapore Airlines between Singapore and Auckland, progressively replacing an existing daily service with the smaller Boeing 777-300ER. Air New Zealand would launch daily services between Auckland and Singapore using newly refitted Boeing 777-200ER aircraft, taking over five flights currently operated by Singapore Airlines and adding two more weekly flights, increasing the frequency to daily.

Subject to regulatory approvals, the carriers would aim to boost their existing capacity between New Zealand and Singapore by up to 30 percent year round over time.

Singapore Airlines’ daily Singapore-Christchurch service would continue as part of the alliance.

The proposed alliance would enable Air New Zealand passengers to access codeshare travel on the Singapore Airlines network to South East Asia, the United Kingdom and Europe and Africa as well as on the network of its regional subsidiary airline, SilkAir. Singapore Airlines’ customers would be able to access codeshare travel across the Air New Zealand domestic network and to selected international destinations.

The alliance would see Air New Zealand’s “NZ” code return to Singapore Airlines’ network for the first time since 2007. Air New Zealand last operated to Singapore in 2006.

The parties are seeking approval for the alliance from the Competition Commission of Singapore and the New Zealand Minister of Transport. Pending approval, flights could commence as early as December 2014.