Air NZ chief says engine dramas to hamper flights for years

Air New Zealand Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Greg Foran said the engine problems that have grounded a significant number of the airline’s jets will hamper operations for another two years.

Four of Air New Zealand’s 14 Boeing Co. 787s currently can’t fly because engines from Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc aren’t available, Foran said in a Bloomberg Television interview Thursday. Six of the airline’s 17 Airbus SE A321s are grounded while the airline works with engine-maker Pratt & Whitney on extra maintenance requirements, he said.

The operational impact “will be with us for a couple of years,” Foran said. The number of planes out of service is expected to gradually decline over that period, he said.

The fallout suggests there’s no quick fix to the supply-chain snarls that have dogged aviation since the pandemic. Air New Zealand has a fleet of 110 aircraft, of which 58 are Airbus and Boeing jets.

The airline on Thursday said pretax earnings for the 2024 financial year more than halved to NZ$222 million ($140 million). Profit would have been about NZ$100 million higher if the fleet had been fully operational, it said.