Air New Zealand

To register your interest for this flight — and for any subsequent flights — please email the Air New Zealand Travel Centre in Apia at AIRNZSamoa@airnz.co.nz and provide your full legal name, passport number, citizenship, destination, and contact details.

If you have already registered your interest for a flight to New Zealand — either with the New Zealand High Commission in Samoa or with Air New Zealand — AND you are eligible to travel to New Zealand, Air New Zealand will contact you directly to discuss booking and payment options. This is a commercial flight so you will be required to pay for your tickets in advance of travel.

In a message to staff, chief executive Greg Foran said international travel made up two-thirds of the company's revenue and that was gone now for the forseeable future.

The airline is now expecting to earn less than $500m year. Before Covid-19, Air New Zealand had annual revenue of around $5.8 billion and a profit of $374m.

Foran said the only way the financial situation would improve was if New Zealanders embrace domestic travel after the lockdown was over.

From the end of March until the 31st of May the airline will only fly to three countries from Auckland, once a week.

In a statement, Air New Zealand said there will be one return service to Nadi, one return service to Rarotonga, and one return service to Niue.

Routes to Tonga and Samoa have been suspended.

Norfolk Island will have two services a week, one from Brisbane and one from Sydney.

The phrase kia ora is a Maori greeting and the trademark attempt has sparked anger from the indigenous community.

The airline said it wants to trademark the magazine logo, not the phrase itself.

The New Zealand Maori Council described the move as "cultural misappropriation" and "frankly despicable".

The council is a statutory body set up to represent the Maori community.

"My warning to Air New Zealand is I sure as hell will put a stop to this," head of the council Matthew Tukaki said.

Auckland Regional Public Health Service (ARPHS) advised anyone on Air New Zealand flight NZ997 on August 19 to be extra vigilant, especially if they were not vaccinated.

The infected person did not know they had measles at the time.

Public Health Medicine Specialist Dr Maria Poynter said symptoms could take between seven to 14 days to show.

" ... you are most at risk if you're not immune to measles, either because you haven't been vaccinated or you haven't had the disease previously," Poynter said.

Some New Zealanders with Maori heritage wear tattoos to mark their genealogy and heritage.

The airline said from 1 September, all employees will be able to display "non-offensive" tattoos at work.

It said there was growing acceptance of tattoos, particularly as a means of personal expression.

The airline's tattoo restrictions attracted criticism and some accused it of hypocrisy for using other aspects of Maori culture - such as language and symbols - in its marketing efforts.

Speaking in Auckland on Monday Air New Zealand chief executive Christopher Luxon said it had eight firm orders for the new aircraft and an agreement with Boeing includes an option to increase the number of aircraft from eight to up to 20. 

The deal is worth US$2.7 billion (NZ$4.12b). Air New Zealand has negotiated a significant discount on current list prices and the parties have agreed not to disclose the actual purchase price.

An Air New Zealand spokeswoman confirmed flight NZ992 from Auckland to Apia on Friday afternoon was cancelled, and as a consequence return flight NZ997 from Apia to Auckland was also cancelled.

New Zealand Herald reports the spokeswoman did not have more details on what the issue with the runway lights was and no one could be contacted at Faleolo International Airport.

She also did not know how many Air New Zealand passengers have been affected, but the A320 that usually flies the route has 168 economy seats, according to Air New Zealand's website.

Air New Zealand said it had diverted several flights to Fiji over the past few days to top up on fuel.

It said the temporary shut-down of the damaged pipeline was affecting all airlines operating in and out of Auckland Airport.

The airport said it does not know how long the problem would take to fix, but it said it was in regular contact with the company responsible for the pipeline, Refinery New Zealand, to know when it would be operational again.