Skip to main content

Air New Zealand CEO Greg Foran has provided the biggest hint yet that Air New Zealand will return to London, in an interview with the Australian Financial Review.

Speaking to the masthead, Foran said things would be done differently should the airline fly to the UK again.

“At the time I imagine Air New Zealand said we see the future as New York. We can get better use out of that aircraft, getting out of Heathrow and going to New York,” Foran told AFR.

“We’ve reassessed it over the last couple of years, and there are a couple of things that have led us to adopt a slightly different position on London. One of them is we’d now fly it with a 787, instead of a 777, so fewer seats, and we go more premium, probably via Los Angeles.”

Air NZ has been granted landing slots at London Gatwick Airport. It sold its 14 landing slots at Heathrow for US$27 million. AFR reports that Oman Air paid US$75 million for just one slot in 2023.

A shortage in aircraft means the airline is unlikely to return to London in the short term.