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Air New Zealand Doesn't Believe in Business Class Anymore

March 24, 2010 at 9:00 AM | by | Comments (0)

Remember not too long ago when Qantas was all about ditching their fancy seating options? Well there must be something in the water down under, because now Air New Zealand is thinking about doing the same thing. We don’t believe it has anything to do with that flight attendant manual, but that probably didn’t help things at all.

The airline is pretty sure that high spending business travelers aren’t going to return to the skies anytime soon, so they are ditching some of their business class seating options. Air New Zealand will eliminate all the fancy seats from its fleet of short-haul Airbus A320 airplanes. That means they can cram almost 20 more cheap seats on flights headed across the Tasman Sea to Australia.

Officials at the airline feel that the somewhat short trips between New Zeeland and Australia are more like domestic flights, so there’s little need for a bunch of extra in-flight amenities. They’re also cutting down on the fun at the airport. They’ll be installing electronic check-in machines at several of the airports served in Australia, so no more dealing with extra pleasant airline employees.

Thankfully the situation isn't too bad at Air New Zealand. They haven’t decided to totally abandon the comfy seats and free booze. Business class will remain—for now—on their Boeing 747, 767, and 777 planes. We can’t always afford to sit up front, but we do take comfort in knowing that it is still an option.

Related Stories:
· No Biz For Air NZ [Sydney Morning Herald]
· Qantas Is Ditching First Class In Favor Of More Seats In The Back [Jaunted]
· Airline News coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo of some seats in the front of an Air New Zealand plane: PhillipC]

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