Immenstaad, July 15, 2026 – Air New Zealand has announced a comprehensive cabin retrofit of its Boeing 777-300ERs. The airline is equipping the aircraft with new, ergonomically designed ZP210 Economy seats from ZIM Aircraft Seating Group.
New Economy cabin
The new Economy cabin offers a seat pitch of 32 inches. In Economy Stretch, 35 inches are available. The cabin is being reconfigured in the process: Premium Economy cedes seats to Economy to make room for the new Business Premier. The total capacity of the Boeing 777-300ER remains unchanged, as does the number of rows with the Skycouch option.
Retrofit schedule
The first aircraft enters modification from March 2027 and is scheduled to be back in service from May 2027. The modifications will be carried out in Singapore. The remaining aircraft will follow. For ZIM, this means series deliveries into a tightly sequenced modification program. On-time delivery and certification status must be right throughout the entire program.
Expansion of an existing partnership
The order extends a collaboration that began in 2022: ZIM already supplies Premium Economy for Air New Zealand, since 2025 in the new cabin concept of the Boeing 787-9 “Dreamliner” fleet. With the Economy program for the Boeing 777-300ER, two cabin classes now come from a single source. The Economy seat in the 787-9 cabin, the Vector 2, is also an in-house product today, since ZIM took over the seating business of HAECO Cabin Solutions in 2023. The order is thus a direct result of the portfolio expansion.
Statement by Raffael Rogg, Group CEO
“Air New Zealand has been flying our Premium Economy on the Boeing 787-9 since 2025. That the airline is now also entrusting us with the Economy cabin of its Boeing 777-300ERs is the most robust reference we could get,” says Raffael Rogg. “For the airline it means: two cabin classes, one supplier, one certification process, one point of contact for the entire program.”
