Air Tahiti Nui selects 787-9 to replace A340 fleet

Air Tahiti Nui recently announced plans to replace their aging A340 fleet with four Boeing 787-9 in late 2018. Here are a couple of articles:

http://australianaviation.com.au/201...ce-a340-fleet/

http://www.travelpulse.com/news/airl...aul-fleet.html

The four-engine A340's have fallen out of favor with airlines over the last decade, mainly because they are gas guzzlers compared to twin engine aircraft. In the old days, conventional wisdom was that you needed three or four engines for long, over-water flights. The reliability of the Boeing 767 started the current trend of using twin engine aircraft on long flights, culminating with the huge success of the Boeing 777.

The the 787 is Boeing's newest and most fuel efficient airplane. Fuel prices are very low right now. But once fuel prices rebound, the low fuel burn of the 787 will be a significant advantage for ATN.

You have to excuse me, but being from Washington state, I'm a bit of a fan-boy for Boeing. I'm glad to see Boeing win this one over Airbus - a bit surprising for a French airline.

Nice! We're about to take our first trip to FP (10-day cruse plus 2 days prior and 4 days after) and are expecting to fall in love with it all.

We're going this time on Hawaiian Airlines (using frequent flyer miles) this time but maybe a future return trip can be on ATN's new Boeing planes!

Look at us - not even there a first time and already talking about a return visit! :eek:

Yes very surprising as it's a French airline but hey, look how many USA airlines use lots of Airbus planes. Even more surprising as ATN just spent a fortune upgrading their existing planes the past couple of years.

I flew Hawaiian from NYC all the way to Papeete this past September and was very happy with them. After my first and second trips to French Polynesia I also thought that it would be my last time. Trip number 8 is in 4 months.

I frequently wonder why so many people are so enthusiastic about the B-787 when most airlines set up the economy section in 3-3-3 configuration. For us, it is a major drawback to have no option to select two seats by ourselves. That is universally(?) available on the B-767, where Economy is configured 2-3-2, and is commonly available on the A330 and A340, usually configured 2-4-2. Other features of the B-787 are attractive, but the typical seating arrangements in Economy are, for us, a major negative feature.

John

I agree with preferring a 2-X-2 seating in coach but it is simple airline-advantage math: 3-3-3 gets 9 to a row where 2-3-2 gets 7 and 2-4-2 gets 8. One or two more paying pax per row per flight adds up when the cost to fly is virtually the same.

I agree with preferring a 2-X-2 seating in coach but it is simple airline-advantage math: 3-3-3 gets 9 to a row where 2-3-2 gets 7 and 2-4-2 gets 8. One or two more paying pax per row per flight adds up when the cost to fly is virtually the same.

Right, but the airlines want us to choose their flights over those of their competitors. One of the first things I look at, when choosing a flight for my DW and me, is the type of aircraft and whether it has 2-x-2 seating. I avoid the flights with 3-x-3 seating if at all possible. Even when I travel alone (in an aisle seat) with a stranger beside me, I would much rather that the stranger be relatively uncrowded in a window seat than be an unfortunate person jammed into a centre seat.

John

J-D -

I totally agree and follow the same approach you do.

Unfortunately there is no alternative to ATN other Air France twice a week but they use the 777 and I never hear anything good about them in economy. I think they are 3-4-3. I recently flew to Papeete from Honolulu on Hawaiian air and was pretty happy with them. First flew to HNL from JFK. Would do it again but then only fly once a week on Saturday.

At the risk of getting farther off topic, there are other roundabout options for North Americans with the time and interest. In 2011, we flew LAX to Rarotonga on Air NZ (B-767, 2-3-2 seating in Economy). I understand that this ANZ flight now operates only once a week in each direction. We spent several very enjoyable and relatively economical days on Rarotonga before taking the weekly (on Thursdays, I believe) Air Tahiti flight from RAR to Tahiti. That flight is on an ATR-72 and takes about 2.5 hr.

Considerably more roundabout, there is a weekly LAN flight between Tahiti and Easter Island (B-767), plus more frequent LAN flights between Easter Isl. and Santiago. Thus, one could get from North America to (or home from) Tahiti via Santiago and EI with a stopover on EI. We are thinking about this possibility for a future trip to FP.

Getting back to the original matter of the B-787 and its usual 3-3-3 Economy seating, both ANZ and LAN are adding B-787 aircraft to their fleets. I do not know how long the B-767s with their preferable 2-3-2 seating will be used on the ANZ and LAN routes mentioned above.

John

The Frommers were interviewing someone from the FP tourism board on their radio show. He said FP gets as many tourists in a year as does Hawaii in one week. The advantage of this is almost no crowds. The disadvantage is very few flights choices.

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. . . Even more surprising as ATN just spent a fortune upgrading their existing planes the past couple of years.

. . .

From what I'm reading on Flyertalk, ATN has upgraded the interiors of just three of their five A340s. They tend to run the non-refurbished aircraft on the Tokyo and Auckland flights, but they are sometimes used on the LAX route.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/24256124-post93.html

"I flew last week in business on TN1 and TN2. Two different planes (Bora Bora and Nuku Hiva) and both were still the old configuration."

Here is a fleet list showing the tail number, name, and age of their five aircraft.

F-OJGF Mangareva 14.1 Years

F-OJTN Bora Bora 13.7 Years

F-OLOV Nuku Hiva 9.9 Years

F-OSEA Rangiroa 13.4 Years

F-OSUN Moorea 13.3 Years

There is also a post saying,

"Talking to them this week they say they're likely to drop to only 4 planes this year, with the final refurb happening sometime before the end of the year. So at some point all 4 will be refurb'ed interiors. "

I'm flying ATN from LAX to PPT in early November 2015. When I originally booked, there were two LAX to PPT flights scheduled for that day. Now there is only one. The schedule reduction supports the statement that they are cutting out one aircraft. July and August are the busiest months in FP for tourism. If ATN is going to cut out one aircraft, it would make sense for them to wait until later in the year.

On another topic, looking at Flightradar24, ATN is operating some of their aircraft on charters:

http://www.flightradar24.com/data/airplanes/f-olov/

For example, F-OLOV has been to Sydney, Brisbane, Darwin, and Dubai twice in the last few weeks. It has also been on a Beijing trip. These destinations are not part of the ATN route system.

The upgraded planes - coach much better than before simply because you can now raise the armrest between two people. Business class better but still not worth the money they charge. Many years ago service up there was impeccable. Food fantastic and served from a rolling cart. They used to have great baguettes also. Now the food is mediocre and in the same containers as coach.