Two of Air New Zealand’s Airbus aircraft have been grounded due to a global engine supply shortage that is currently affecting 28 carriers globally.
Two Airbus A321neo aircraft were retired from service. including one jet, the largest ever for the carrier and first deployed in 2022, that is solely used for internal travel.
“Essentially, we don’t have enough engines,” group general manager of engineering and maintenance, Brett Daley told Stuff Travel. “The scheduled removal of engines and usual non-scheduled removals are all coming together at the same time for every operator around the world.”
The two A321neo aircraft have not been in the air for a few weeks, according to flightradar24.com data, and ch-aviation.com data also indicates that they have been receiving maintenance at Auckland International Airport (AKL).
Both ZK-OYA and ZK-OYC’s final flights, which both landed at AKL, were on March 10, 2023, and April 1, 2023, respectively.
Pratt & Whitney, a producer of the engines used in Air New Zealand’s fleet of A320 and A321 aircraft, has had supply problems this year.
Despite having 32 engines on its aircraft, four spares, and three leasing alternatives, Air New Zealand management is nonetheless concerned about the carrier’s capacity to function.
The engines will be taken out of the grounded domestic flights and put to use on airplanes that fly overseas, according to Stuff Travel.
150,000 passengers will experience flight disruptions, with the majority of passengers experiencing a 90-minute delay in departure time.
