Air New Zealand to Reduce Office Space in Cost-Saving Move

By Stephen Wright

Air New Zealand Ltd. plans to reduce to one office location in Auckland from 2024, aiming to cut its property costs by a quarter.
The airline said Wednesday that it won’t renew the lease for its downtown Auckland offices and will centralize its Auckland staff at a refurbished site at Auckland International Airport. The majority of its employees are based in Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city.

The changes would reduce property costs by a quarter over 15 years, Air New Zealand said. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the company has forecast a loss of up to 800 million New Zealand dollars (US$525.0 million) for its current financial year.
“We have more space than we need in the Auckland CBD and are already paying for a precinct at the airport that has more than enough space to meet even our most ambitious growth projections,” Chief Executive Greg Foran said.
Air New Zealand also plans to begin construction this year of a 10,000 square meter (108,000 square feet) aircraft engineering hangar at Auckland Airport for long-haul aircraft. Its existing hangars were built in the 1960s and 1980s.
Write to Stephen Wright at stephen.wright@wsj.com