Air New Zealand will pause its Auckland-Chicago nonstop service for nearly seven months from 31 March to 25 October due to “ongoing challenges with the availability of serviceable Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines” that power its Boeing 787s. The airline says that it currently has “up to three aircraft unavailable for an extended period”, prompting it to review flight schedules, in a 12 March market announcement. Fleets data shows that Air New Zealand has a fleet of 14 787-9s powered by Trent 1000 engines, out of its wider fleet of 104 in-service and five stored jets. It has outstanding orders for two more 787-9s and six 787-10s, both powered by General Electric GEnx-1B engines that are set to start delivering from June 2025 onwards. Air New Zealand operates about “two to three weekly services” on Auckland-Chicago in April and June, as part of its schedule of “up to 35 [weekly] flights” to six ports across Canada and the USA, including Houston and New York. “It was a difficult decision to make, but one that results in the least number of customers impacted,” Leanne Geraghty, the airline’s chief customer and sales officer says. The airline does not expect the paused service to impact its full-year guidance for the 2024 financial year of NZ$200-240 million in pre-tax profit. This is not the first service suspension due to engine issues. In November 2023, the airline indicated it would suspend services to Hobart and Seoul from early April due to inspections required on its Pratt & Whitney PW1000G-JM and Trent 1000 engines, which power its Airbus A320neo and A321neo and 787 fleets. The carrier said then it will consolidate flying on transtasman and Pacific routes upon further understanding the inspections required on the geared turbofan engines powering its 17 A320neos and A321neos. The airline in February said the inspections on its PW1000G-JM engines would see “up to five… aircraft out of service at any one time across the next 18 months at least”.

Swiss achieved an operating profit of Swfr719 million ($820 million) for the full-year 2023, up 58% from Swfr456 million in 2022 and the best result in its history. The airline attributes the strong performance to bumper post-pandemic demand for air travel combined with its competitive cost structure. Operating income rose 21% year on year to Swfr5.3 billion, adds the Lufthansa Group subsidiary. It carried around 16.5 million passengers in 2023, up about 30% year on year. Capacity, as measured in available seat-kilometres, was raised by 28%. Load factor increased 3.6 percentage points to 84.5%. "We are very pleased that we were able to significantly exceed expectations and achieve an absolute record result after the extremely challenging financial pandemic years," states Swiss' financial chief Markus Binkert. For the fourth quarter, operating profit was down 39% year on year to Swfr103 million while operating income rose by 6.8% to SwFr1.3 billion. In 2024, Swiss plans to expand its capacity to around 95% of pre-pandemic levels. It intends to focus on providing more sustainable flight operations, enhancing the travel experience of its passengers and investing in employees.

Australia's Rex Airlines has signed an interline agreement with UAE carrier Etihad Airways. "Passengers will be able to fly to either Sydney or Melbourne on Rex and thereafter connect on Etihad to a further 72 destinations across the globe," Rex's general manager of network strategy, Warrick Lodge says. The deal also offers Etihad guests with access from Sydney and Melbourne to destinations within the Rex network, including Adelaide, Hobart, Canberra, Brisbane, and the Gold Coast. This marks the second interline agreement for Rex. The airline has an existing interline arrangement with Delta Air Lines.