ST Engineering fully retrofitting Air NZ Boeings in world first

Days after the wide-body Boeing 787-9 plane arrived in Singapore from New Zealand, technicians removed its 302 seats, tore out the carpet and dismantled all its ceiling panels and overhead bins, leaving the plane's interior entirely empty.

- Vanessa Paige Chelvan

This gutting of the Air New Zealand aircraft in October was in preparation for the world's first nose-to-tail retrofit of a 787-9 Dreamliner, which is being done in Singapore by home-grown technology and engineering group ST Engineering.

All 14 of Air New Zealand's 787-9 aircraft will be retrofitted one at a time at ST Engineering's airframe facility in Changi. Seven will be completed by the end of 2025, and the rest by the end of 2026.

Air New Zealand chief executive Greg Foran put the cost of the retrofit programme at NZ$500 million (S$390 million), or about NZ$35 million per aircraft.

The Dreamliners are being retrofitted to install a new in-flight entertainment system with larger screens, revamped seats in every cabin and new carpet throughout the aircraft, among other upgrades.

Airlines typically choose to launch new products - such as redesigned seats - on new aircraft.

However, Air New Zealand has been facing supply chain problems, which have delayed aircraft deliveries and grounded existing ones.

With the airline becoming "increasingly concerned" about when its new aircraft would be delivered, Mr Foran said Air New Zealand opted to take the unconventional approach of putting its new offerings on older planes.