Air New Zealand has kicked off a major refresh of its Boeing 787-9 fleet, with the first of 14 aircraft touching down in Singapore on Sunday to be retrofitted with new cabin interiors.

The aircraft (above) with the registration code ZK-NZH, will spend some time at ST Engineering, the airline’s heavy maintenance partner, where it will have its existing interior stripped out and all-new products installed, including revamped seats in Economy and Premium Economy, and the redesigned Business Premier cabin, including the new Business Premier Luxe product.

Air New Zealand’s General Manager of Strategy, Networks and Fleet, Baden Smith says the arrival of the aircraft in Singapore marked a key milestone for the much-anticipated project.

“In 2014, Air New Zealand was the launch customer for the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. A decade on, it feels fitting that we’re the first airline in the world to retrofit this aircraft nose-to-tail with a new interior.

“This retrofit programme will see all the interiors removed, including the seats, inflight entertainment system, carpet, curtains, and lavatory wallpaper, before it’s all replaced with new product.

“The aircraft will then come back to New Zealand where our team will spend a few weeks working through various checks and training before it officially enters the flying schedule in the next year.”

Over the next two years, all 14 of the airline’s 787-9 aircraft will be retrofitted one at a time on a rolling schedule.

“Once the first aircraft has been retrofitted and certified, the remaining aircraft will head to Singapore one by one,” says Smith.

“We’re retrofitting them one at a time to ensure we have enough aircraft to fly our schedule, and we aren’t disrupting customers’ travel plans.”

The scope of the retrofit includes:

• New seats in every cabin, including the new Business Premier Luxe™ seats in the Business Premier cabin

• New carpet throughout the aircraft

• New curtains between cabins and galleys

• New wallpaper, hands-free waste disposal, and amenity holders in the lavatories

• New inflight entertainment screens and system

• Sky Pantry installed in the Economy cabin

The aircraft LOPA (Layout of Passenger Accommodation) on all 14 aircraft will be reconfigured to have 272 seats; featuring 4 Business Premier Luxe seats, 22 Business Premier seats, 33 Premium Economy seats, and 213 Economy seats, including 13 Economy Skycouch™.

Currently, the airline’s 787-9 aircraft have two different LOPA or configurations; nine aircraft with 302 seats, and five aircraft with 275 seats.