Qantas says it now has a full fleet of eight new Next Generation Boeing 737 aircraft operating between Auckland and Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, Wellington and Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane and Christchurch and Sydney. The latest aircraft to join the fleet is operating on the Auckland-Brisbane-Auckland route. The Jetconnect-operated fleet of NZ-registered Boeing 737-800s are named in honour of prominent New Zealanders Jean Batten, Sir William Hudson, Katherine Mansfield, William Pickering, Sir Edmund Hillary, Ernest Rutherford and Charles Upham, and one is named after Abel Tasman. Configured with 12 Business seats and 156 Economy, all offering on-demand touch-screen IFE, PC and USB ports in both Business and Economy to facilitate computers, MP3 players and other technology, the seats feature wide seat-back design. Pitch is 37 inch in Business, with 22 inch width between armrests. In Economy it is a 30 inch pitch and 17 inch seat width. Auckland capacity is supplemented with a daily Airbus A330-200 Sydney-Auckland-Sydney flight, with 36 Skybed sleepers in Business and 199 Economy seats.
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| ZK-ZQA, Jean Batten, at Auckland on 15 June 2010. Photo : S Lowe |
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| ZK-ZQB, Sir William Hudson, at Auckland on 20 July 2010. Photo : S Lowe |
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| ZK-ZQC, Katherine Mansfield, at Auckland on 10 August 2010. Photo : S Lowe |
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| ZK-ZQD, Sir Edmund Hillary, at Auckland on 14 February 2011. Photo : S Lowe |
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| ZK-ZQE, William Pickering, at Auckland on 31 July 2011. Photo : S Lowe |
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| ZK-ZQF, Abel Tasman, at Auckland on 16 September 2011. Photo : S Lowe |
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| ZK-ZQG, Ernest Rutherford, at Auckland on 31 July 2011. Photo : S Lowe |
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| ZK-ZQH, Charles Upham, at Auckland on 1 September 2011. Photo : S Lowe |
The last of the old ladies, 737-400 ZK-JTQ, has been in and out of service since late August...it still does about one or two flights a week filling in where needed. It was due to be fully retired by September 1st but that date now seems to be October 3rd...from what I understand the airframe is very low on available cycles but QF work their 737s HARD...I will miss my old lady 737 Classics...
ReplyDeleteInteresting that Qantas only named 'white' prominent NZers...And I can say that because my Great Grandfather's name is on one of the above aircraft.
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