Air New Zealand passengers consumed almost double the amount of juice, soft drinks, alcohol and crackers in 2022 than they did the previous year, downing nearly 458,000 litres of alcohol alone.
This will at least partly be because the airline flew 4.3 million more customers in 2022 – 12.3 million on 152,000 flights compared with 8 million on 118,721 flights in 2021.
Here’s a by-the-numbers breakdown of the national carrier’s 2022.
2.9 million
With New Zealand’s border reopening, the airline carried 2.9 million international passengers in 2022, up from 500,000 in 2021.
READ MORE:
* Air NZ v Qantas: Who does trans-Tasman better in 2023?
* Nearly 10,000 vapes confiscated from checked-in flight baggage in 2022
* Why some airports use buses to transport passengers to planes
“If the year taught us anything it was that Kiwis absolutely love to travel around Aotearoa and overseas visitors have been longing for our borders to reopen,” Air New Zealand chief customer and sales officer Leanne Geraghty said.
1400
The tonnes of lobster the airline carried. Air New Zealand carried 114,000 tonnes of cargo across its domestic and international networks overall. This also included 13,250 tonnes of fresh produce such as capsicums, blueberries, cherries, avocados and tomatoes; 5800 tonnes of meat; 3100 tonnes of salmon; and 5700 tonnes of other seafood such as clams, tuna, mussels and oysters.
Supplied
Air New Zealand carried 55,000 customers on its busiest day of the year.
9.4 million
The number of customers who flew on the airline’s domestic network last year, up from 7.4 million in 2021.
24
The number of international routes the airline restarted in 2022 after Covid-related travel restrictions ended. It also launched its new flagship service to New York, NZ1.
4.9 million
While it has introduced new snacks, the classic Cookie Time remains a firm favourite on board. Flight attendants handed out almost 4.9m of the biscuits in 2022, along with 12m branded lollies, and 1.6m savoury snacks.
219,900
The litres of beer consumed on Air New Zealand flights last year, making it the most popular alcoholic drink on board. Red wine was the second most popular alcoholic beverage, with passengers sipping – or slurping – their way through a total 117,308 litres.
Just over 62,000 litres of sauvignon blanc were consumed and just over 53,000 litres of chardonnay. Whiskey was another popular choice, with customers downing 5341 litres of the stuff.
Soft drinks and juice were the most popular drinks of all, with passengers swallowing 353,748 and 340,454 litres respectively.
55,000
The number of customers who checked into an Air New Zealand flight on its busiest day of the year – December 23.
11,234
The number of pets who flew with the airline last year. In addition to cats and dogs, they included birds, guinea pigs, lizards and other reptiles, rabbits, a frog and a turtle.
100,000
The approximate number of plane seats cleaned every week.
2200
The number of new staff the airline hired, bringing the total team to 10,500.