Air New Zealand

Is Air New Zealand safe?

Yes. No one has died in an accident on an Air New Zealand flight since 28 November 1979, when a DC-10 on a sightseeing trip flew into Mount Erebus in Antarctica, and the airline has written offHull lossAn accident in which an aircraft is destroyed or damaged beyond economic repair. People may or may not be hurt.More in the glossary no aircraft in the 20 years we look at. We score it 88.

What keeps it below the very top is not the jets but the turboprops. Since 2023 New Zealand's accident investigators have opened a string of inquiries into Air New Zealand Q300 and ATR flights: an approach flown far below its planned profile, a take-off that ended past the runway end, an engine fire. Nobody was seriously hurt in any of them.

Erebus and Perpignan: the two crashes people ask about

Erebus, 1979. Flight TE901 descended under cloud in polar whiteout on a route whose coordinates the airline had changed without telling the crew. All 257 people aboard died. A royal commission placed the blame on the airline's route change and its flight planning, not the pilots. It is 47 years old and outside our 20-year window, but it shaped how New Zealand investigates accidents.

Perpignan, 2008. On 27 November 2008 an Airbus A320 owned by Air New Zealand, painted in its livery but still registered in Germany, crashed into the sea off the French coast. It was on a check flight before returning to Air New Zealand from a lease to XL Airways Germany, flown by two XL Airways pilots with an Air New Zealand pilot, three Air New Zealand engineers and an inspector from New Zealand's Civil Aviation Authority aboard. All seven died. France's investigators (BEA) found that water from rinsing had frozen inside two angle-of-attack sensors, and that a low-speed test was improvised at low height near the airport. The Aviation Safety Network lists XL Airways as the operator, and it was a test flight with no passengers, so we do not count it against Air New Zealand's accident record. It still cost the airline five of its own staff.

Since then, the only accident-class entries are turbulence injuries, such as a passenger who broke a leg on flight NZ65 from Bali in April 2024.

The regional turboprop incidents

Air New Zealand's regional flights use ATR 72-600s and Q300s, once flown by its Air Nelson and Mount Cook Airline subsidiaries and now listed by TAIC as operated by Air New Zealand itself. The Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) is thorough, so the record is visible:

• Timaru, June 2023. A Q300 at night drifted about 2,500 feet below its programmed approach path and reached 1,022 feet above the ground inside an area with a 2,000-foot minimum. The captain caught it before the ground proximity warning would have sounded. TAIC's report, published on 1 October 2026, found crew fixation on visual cues plus training and regulatory factors.
• Timaru, February 2024. During take-off past the decision speed, the first officer eased the rotation to pass under a flock of birds. The captain took that for a rejected take-off and braked. The Q300 stopped about 5 metres past the runway end.
• Wellington, September 2024. An ATR's left engine caught fire on approach, four flying hours after an overhaul that missed a fatigue-cracked turbine blade. The crew landed and evacuated 70 passengers, some with minor injuries; TAIC found the evacuation took much longer than the certification benchmark.
• Nelson, November 2025 and Napier, June 2026. Two ATR landing gear warnings, one with a ground proximity alert. Both inquiries are open.

On the jets, a Boeing 777-300ER veered onto the runway shoulder at Auckland in heavy rain in January 2023 after a late autopilot disconnect, and in December 2017 two 787-9s lost Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines within two days near Auckland.

How old are Air New Zealand's planes?

At 30 June 2026 the airline flew 115 aircraft. The long-haul Boeing 787-9s average 9.8 years, the ATRs 8.8 and the A320neo family 3 to 6. The old end is the 23 Q300s at 19.4 years and the 777-300ERs at 14.3. The bigger practical problem is engines: most of the domestic A321neos stayed parked through the 2026 financial year because Pratt & Whitney could not supply serviceable engines, which is why some routes you book may be flown by an older A320 instead.

Who checks Air New Zealand?

The Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand certifies the airline; the country is in FAA Category 1FAA IASAThe US FAA's check of whether a country's aviation regulator meets ICAO standards. Category 1 means it does; Category 2 means it does not.More in the glossary and has never had an airline on the EU Air Safety ListEU Air Safety ListThe European Commission's list of airlines banned or restricted from flying in EU airspace because they do not meet international safety standards.More in the glossary. Air New Zealand is an IATA member and so holds IOSA registrationIOSAThe IATA Operational Safety Audit, an international audit of an airline's safety management and operations. Every IATA member must pass it.More in the glossary. TAIC is independent and publishes even incidents with no damage, which is why the list above is long. Compare that with regulators that publish little, where a short list says less.

Tips for flying Air New Zealand

• Expect bumps on regional routes. Turboprops cruise lower, in the weather, and New Zealand's westerlies make approaches into Wellington and Queenstown rough. Keep your belt on whenever seated.
• Read the safety card on the ATR and Q300. TAIC's Wellington report found many passengers slow to follow instructions in the evacuation.
• Check the codeshare. Flights to Australia with an NZ number may be operated by partners, and the score here covers Air New Zealand's own flights.

How we scored it

The accident record (96) and oversight (92) carry the score. Serious incidents (79) cost the most, because of the cluster of turboprop events since 2023, and the fleet (75) loses points for the Q300s and the parked A321neos. Compare Qantas at 89 and Virgin Australia.