Air New Zealand resumes Boeing 787 Auckland – Perth services, replacing leased Wamos Air A330
David Eyre 
ZK-NZE Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner of Air New Zealand in special all black livery, at Perth Airport - 29 October 2023. Air New Zealand resumed operating Auckland services using its own aircraft from today. ZK-NZE is seen departing as NZ176 to Auckland on 29 October. To enable Air New Zealand to build capacity while bringing other stored aircraft back online after the COVID-19 pandemic, the airline had wet-leased (aircraft plus crew) Airbus A330-243 aircraft from Spanish airline Wamos Air from 15 November 2022 to 28 October 2023. Wamos Air A330-200 EC-NCK was flown to New Zealand on 10 November 2022 and entered service on the Perth route from 15 November 2022, operating daily as NZ173 from Auckland and departing as NZ174. It operated its final Perth-Auckland service on 27 April 2023 and was replaced by EC-NBN until 28 October 2023. Photo © John Slabbert
Air New Zealand re-introduced their own Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft onto Auckland – Perth services as of today, 29 October 2023, with the all-black ZK-NZE operating.
Airbus A330-200 aircraft had been wet-leased from Spanish airline Wamos Air since 15 November 2022, to enable Air New Zealand to build capacity while bringing other stored aircraft back online after the COVID-19 pandemic.
EC-NCK was flown to New Zealand on 10 November 2022 and entered service on the Perth route from 15 November 2022, operating daily as NZ173 from Auckland and departing as NZ174. EC-NCK operated its final Perth-Auckland service on 27 April 2023.
Another Wamos Air A330-200, EC-NBN, was delivered to Auckland on 25 April 2023 to replace EC-NCK. EC-NBN made its first visit on 28 April 2023 and continued to operate NZ173/174 until 28 October 2023. It flew back to its home base in Madrid on 30 October 2023.
