Air New Zealand’s first fully retrofitted Dreamliner officially entered commercial service on Monday May 19th.

After seven years in the making, the refreshed 787-9, registered ZK-NZH, operated its inaugural passenger flight from Auckland to Brisbane just before 9:30 a.m. The aircraft returned to Auckland that afternoon before continuing on to San Francisco in the evening. It’s now expected to operate regularly on the Auckland–Brisbane, Auckland–San Francisco, and Auckland–Vancouver routes.

Flight NZ145 marked the debut of this next-generation onboard experience. CEO Greg Foran noted that final tweaks were being made to the aircraft right up until the day before its launch. The retrofit took 184 days to complete and is part of a $35 million project. Six more aircraft are scheduled to be completed by the end of 2025, with the remaining seven undergoing retrofitting in Singapore in 2026.

The aircraft features brand-new interiors, including the luxurious Business Premier Luxe seat and refreshed Business Premier, Premium Economy, and Economy cabins.

What is a retrofit?

A retrofit refers to the process of taking an existing aircraft and replacing the product inside it- like a renovation of a home.

The scope of the Air New Zealand 787 retrofit includes:

• New seats in every cabin, including the new Business Premier Luxe™ seats in the Business Premier cabin

• New carpet throughout the aircraft

• New curtains between cabins and galleys

• New wallpaper, hands-free waste disposal, and amenity holders in the lavatories

• New inflight entertainment screens and system

• Sky Pantry installed in the Economy cabin

The aircraft LOPA: Layout of Passenger Accommodation

Eventually all 14 retrofitted aircraft will be reconfigured to have 272 seats; featuring four Business Premier Luxe seats, 22 Business Premier seats, 33 Premium Economy seats, and 213 Economy seats, including 13 Economy Skycouch™ which is you haven’t tried before you really must! See our review of the Skycouch here.