Air Tahiti Nui to fly first Boeing 787-9, scraps old A340s
French Polynesia’s flag carrier, Air Tahiti Nui, today announces to start Dreamliner long-haul service in November to replace its four older Airbus A340-300s. With the arrival of their Boeing 787-9 in May, Air Tahiti Nui is scheduled to fly their first 787 between home base Papeete to Auckland and Los Angeles starting from 7th November 2018 on a three-weekly basis. The second 787 will be delivered by July. When their remaining 787s delivered, the airline will scrap it last A340 operating on the 2-weekly Tokyo Narita rotation, which is scheduled to be on the 4th February 2019.
Four A340s are destined to be scrapped while the other will be returned to its lessor. Their A340 fleet currently has an average age of 15.8 years. With Aie Tahiti Nui announcing to phrase out their A340, there will only be 43 airlines operating this four-engine airframe. Note that Air Tahiti Nui owns one A340-200 and -300 but they were sold to Air Borbon and Cubana in 2003 and 2013 respectively. The phase-out is scheduled for completion by September 2019 to coincide with the airline’s 20th anniversary.
Based in Fa'a'ā International Airport, the carrier has an order with Boeing for two 787-9s three years ago. In addition to the two owned jets, the Tahitian carrier will also lease two more B787-9s from Air Lease Corporation which are slated to arrive in October 2018. The arrival of the "Tahitian Dreamliner" will be the opportunity for Air Tahiti Nui to introduce a new premium class, with seats designed by Zodiac Aerospace. Their Dreamliners will have 294 seats total – 30 in business class, 32 in premium economy and 232 in the economy. The new Poerava Business Class seats are manufacturer Rockwell Collins’ true lie-flat Parallel Diamond models like you’ll find on airlines like United or Air China. They will be arranged in five rows of six seats each in a 2 – 2 – 2 pattern. Each will have 60 inches of pitch and will recline to a flatbed that is 78 inches long. Their entertainment screens will be 16 inches wide.
One interesting (or to some, ridiculous) thing about this airline is that online seat selection (even paid ones) are not available in both economy and business class. To request seat assignments, passengers need to contact Air Tahiti Nui reservation office in person at least 72 hours prior to departure. Moreover, exit and bulkhead rows can only be assigned at the airport. While we are not sure why the airline has this practices, some say that this is due to aircraft operation limits. As Air Tahiti Nui can only manage to fill up around half of its 296 seaters A340 each time, the airline needs to calculate the aircraft center of gravity before allowing passengers to reserve their seats. Hence, seating arrangements are likely to be changed even when you confirmed your booking. It is highly likely for the airline to remain this practice after the arrival of Boeing 787-9s.
Cabin seating on the future 787-9
Current A340 features two class layout
Another interesting note is that Air Tahiti Nui plans to replace 5 A340s with 4 787s, which means that the Dreamliners need to fly in a tighter schedule in order to meet originally capacity. This is made possible if the airline reschedules their flight schedule. From the flight radar 24 data below, their A340s have been sitting on the tarmac for over 7 hours between flights in their Fa'a'ā Airport Homebase. It is also possible for the airline to reduce flight schedules as the airline has been facing overcapacity problems.
With the replacement of 5 A343 with 4 789, total seating capacity will be reduced by 20 percent. Reduction in economy capacity will be the largest, with over 29.7 percent due to the introduction of premium economy class.
Tahiti is one of the 118 geographically dispersed islands of French Polynesia. It is the largest island in the Windward group of French Polynesia, while Fa'a'ā International Airport is the only international airport in this overseas collectivity area of the French Republic. Despite its relatively small scaled airport operation, its single 3,420 m (11,220 ft) runway can accommodate aircraft up to Boeing 747 and Airbus A380 size.
Regional Air Tahiti has daily flights to most other islands in French Polynesia. Given the specific nature of its network, Air Tahiti chose the ATR as the aircraft best suited to the majority of its routes. Able to operate from airstrips less than 1,200 m (3,937 ft) long, their seven ATR 42 and four ATR 72 offer service quality similar to that of jets, yet with much lower fuel consumption than other machines in the same category. While for some smaller airstrips are inaccessible to the ATR, these are operated by their two Twin Otter or three Beechcraft machines.
There are international flights to Chile, France, Japan, New Zealand and the United States. Because of limited level terrain, rather than leveling large stretches of sloping agricultural land, the airport is built primarily on reclaimed land on the coral reef just off-shore. This may also be a cause of numerous accidents in this airport. On 12 September 1993, Air France flight 72, a Boeing 747-400 from Los Angeles to Pape'ete, ran off the runway on landing and into the reef at the end of the tarmac. The nose of the 747 was submerged in the water.
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