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Air New Zealand expands ATR fleet amid market battle with Jetstar

Xinhua, November 5, 2015 Adjust font size:

New Zealand's national carrier is to buy 15 new ATR72-600 aircraft worth 375 million U.S. dollars as it seeks to fend off Australian competition in its domestic market.

The new aircraft would operate on regional Air New Zealand services, with four of the new aircraft allowing for growth on existing routes and 11 replacing the airline's ATR72-500 fleet.

"The extra four 68-seat ATR72-600 that we are adding to our fleet will enable us to operate up to an additional 600,000 seats into the New Zealand regional market annually," Air New Zealand chief executive Christopher Luxon said Thursday.

"Once these new aircraft arrive, we will operate a fleet of 29 ATR aircraft, the third largest ATR fleet in the world," Luxon said in a statement.

In 2012 the airline announced it would add to its French-manufactured ATR fleet with an investment in 14 ATR72-600 aircraft.

Seven of these aircraft had been delivered and the remaining seven were due to join the fleet by mid-2016.

The additional 15 new aircraft would begin arriving from late 2016.

The airline is in a price war with Jetstar, a subsidiary of Australia's national carrier Qantas, which opened four domestic routes in New Zealand last month. Endit