KEY POINTS:
Air New Zealand is tapping into the multi-billion-dollar private jet market where large passenger planes are fitted out as flying palaces.
The airline revealed in Seattle it has created a standalone company with 50 staff to design and when possible do the work on large Boeing private planes, having already done some refurbishing work on two aircraft.
The new company, Altitude Aerospace Interiors, will also chase work fitting out or remodelling interiors for other airlines after successfully refitting its own Boeing 747s and fitout of its 777s three years ago.
Company general manager Michael Pervan said his staff had quietly built up its design expertise and customer base and was now working with some of the world's biggest commercial airlines and manufacturers.
It has been set up as a revenue driver for Air New Zealand, which has been stung by high fuel prices and falling long haul demand under increased threat from financial chaos, particularly in the United States and Europe.
The company unveiled its plans the week Wall St suffered one of its biggest meltdowns and market turmoil spread around the world. While some, like private jet owners such as hip hop's P Diddy, are giving them up and going first class, Pervan said the timing was not all that bad. There were, he said, 1000 billionaires in the world who needed ways to spend their money.
"We've had a really good look at it and strategically we think it's a really good market place. A lot of the market owns oil wells and oil refineries so that part of the market is pretty firm and a lot of them are very astute investors."
There was a backlog into the next decade for dozens of "green" unmodified private planes from Boeing. These range from 737s like those flying New Zealand domestic routes to the new-generation 747-800s with a mansion-size floor area of 444sq m and a jumbo price tag beyond US$475 million ($713 million).
Of the 143 Boeing Business Jets sold in the past nine years, seven have been jumbo jets and 16 the yet to fly 787 Dreamliners. They will feature almost unlimited opulence, showers, saunas, king-size suites, wine cellars and garage space for vehicles.
The large private jet market is intensely secret, most owners being extremely publicity-shy, but they have to fit at least one of three criteria.
Pervan said they need to have around $1 billion, have the need to travel and, importantly, not be vulnerable to a public backlash for owning one. This is where public companies had come unstuck.
Hard times made commercial airlines try even harder to distinguish themselves from their opposition, especially in business and first-class compartments.
"It's there to wow the customers who are not thinking they're getting on just another airline. We're looking to make their cabin a little more special than the next. We feel we're in a part of the market that is as robust as ever."
Besides the work Altitude staff had done for Air New Zealand cabins three years ago, they had recently designed a bar unit for V Australia's new 777, which features curved embossed walls, sliding stools and a domed ceiling.
Altitude staff will be based in Auckland and Christchurch, where a dedicated Boeing Business Jet refurbishment centre will be opened with Air New Zealand technical operations at the end of the year.
That will provide start-to-finish refurbishment for Boeing jets using dedicated interiors specialists and technicians. Each job takes about 12 months.
"The superyacht industry provides a good source for customised component products and high-quality furniture finishes," Pervan said.
Given the cost of aviation fuel, there was a need to keep interior weight to a minimum. Even the superwealthy are aware that weight counts. "They have to pay the fuel bill."
Boeing Business Jet's director of sales and marketing Chuck Colburn said the market was at its peak but there was a six-year backlog of plane-making and cabin fitout.
"We're victims of our own success. There are some implications from Wall St and the worldwide economy, but we've had huge success in the past five years."
About a dozen major cabin outfitters are struggling to get through the work.
"We're looking forward to the day when Altitude can take a Boeing Business Jet," said Colburn. "That takes pressure off other completion centres." * Grant Bradley travelled to Seattle courtesy of Air New Zealand.
AIMING HIGH
* Altitude's 50 consulting and engineering staff will specialise in three main product lines, reconfiguring or designing interiors on commercial jets and designing product and interiors for Boeing business and private jets.
* The Air New Zealand subsidiary will provide services for Airbus A320s and all Boeing jets but is particularly targeting the new-generation 737, 777 and 787s.
