Air New Zealand has formed a closer relationship with Gulf-based Etihad Airways that will see them sharing aircraft maintenance services in Melbourne and Los Angeles.
Etihad is headquartered in Abu Dhabi and is a codeshare partner with Air New Zealand as well as a co-shareholder in Virgin Australia.
Under the new agreement, Eithad will soon perform all scheduled and non-scheduled line maintenance on Air New Zealand aircraft in Melbourne at its Tullamarine engineering facility.
In return, Air New Zealand is already performing full line maintenance for Etihad in Los Angeles.
The maintenance services may include transit, daily and weekly checks, scheduled engineering services and fault repairs for the aircraft systems and passenger cabins.
Etihad started a daily non-stop service between Abu Dhabi and Los Angeles on June 1, using a three-class Airbus A340-500 aircraft. From mid-July a Boeing 777-200LR will operate the route.
Air New Zealand has operations from Los Angeles to Auckland, London-Heathrow and Rarotonga. Air New Zealand operates an average of five flights a day from Melbourne to Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington, as well as a seasonal service to Queenstown.
Nevil Gibson
Tue, 01 Jul 2014
Tue, 01 Jul 2014
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Air NZ to share maintenance with Gulf airline Etihad
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