Some glimpses into the future

 

This is a snippet from a Stuff piece after Greg Foran's visit to Hamilton

Foran was appointed Air New Zealand chief executive in February last year, just as the world was trying to come to grips with Covid-19. Dealing with the pandemic has been a “baptism of fire”. When faced with a crisis, Foran’s advice to staff is to “panic slowly”. Air NZ is forecast to lose up to $450m this year. A comparable loss is predicted in 2022. The airline burns through $175m a month, while the company’s workforce has shrunk from 12,000 staff down to 7500... 

Foran predicts long-haul flights could become a possibility by early 2022, and is keen for Air New Zealand to target the North America market. Despite its challenges, the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated innovation and change. Green hydrogen electric planes, which were previously seen as a possibility in a decades’ time, could be operating in three years’ time. Electric planes are also being looked at and could operate on shorter routes, such as Auckland to Hamilton. “When you put fossil fuels in a plane, the further you fly, the lighter the plane gets, which allows you to fly further. The problem with batteries is it’s the same weight when you land as what they are when you start off. So you’re limited to sort of circa 250 – 300km.”

Interesting about electric planes for a route Air New Zealand no longer fly. Perhaps they could set up a subsidary airline and call in E-agle Air http://3rdlevelnz.blogspot.com/2013/01/eagle-airways-part-1-fledgling-eagle.html

For the full article see : https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/inside-business/125549752/air-nz-boss-greg-forans-panic-slowly-approach-to-tackling-hard-times