Thanks to Terry who has sent in these photos of Air New Zealand's Bombardier Q300 ZK-NEG taken at Nelson yesterday, 12 April 2021. Terry writes...
Thought you might be interested in these pics of NEG sitting in rather a sad state with no engines outside the NSN maintenance hangar
Would love to know what the future holds for her, guess she will be on the way out like the rest of the Dash fleet eventually?
Seems to be the only Dash sitting in a parked/stored status
maybe its going to be parts airframe now?. how many others are out of service?
ReplyDeleteSad to see her like this hopefully there might be other live for her
ReplyDeleteMatt NEG is the only one not in service
ReplyDeleteNEG is just being used for parts because there are long lead-in times for parts from overseas
ReplyDelete'Eventually' being the critical word. There is no truth to the rumor of immenant withdrawal of the Dash fleet. Covid has changed the game in a lot of ways. It will happen one day, like it will to everything. But it's certainly not something we will see soon
ReplyDeleteGiven she is one of the last in the old scheme could it be that the reason it is her being a spares source is that she is awaiting a D check and repaint? Its open public knowledge Air NZ has cashflow issues and is still bleeding .....
ReplyDeleteany news about fleet replacement options? atr 42? q400s?
ReplyDeleteIt won't be q400s as they are the same size as the 72s.
DeleteThere is also the question do they need to a smaller plane? With the consolidation of Mt Cook and Air Nelson into the AirNZ operator certificate, looks like they want a simplification of aircraft. Could they get by with just ATR72s?
What's going to replace the Dash 8 Q300S? , I mean they are alot nicer to fly in than the ATR
ReplyDeleteThere unfortunately isn't a solid option to replace the Q300 yet for Air NZ. Luxon made public the desire to replace them with a more sustainably powered aircraft such as electric or hydrogen but they're still in development. And after COVID, even if there were other good options, AirNZ wholly own these airframes and simply aren't able to outlay millions for new ones. Plus, there are benefits to having more than one fleet type for redundancy etc. Expect to see the Dash8 in our skies for many more years yet.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you
DeleteAgreed there has been many Rumors around about the Dash departing soon and thankfully we will see them for some time yet
DeleteNEA is also now in storage according to Plane Spotters. Perhaps also being used for parts?
ReplyDelete