1990 - Does Air New Zealand need to make a major fleet decision?

In 1990, Martyn Gosling wrote in the Dominion that Air NZ needed to make a major decision about its international aircraft fleet soon to "replace its entire fleet". It came to pass that the decision it actually made was to acquire the Boeing 767-300ER, but the article focuses heavily on the Airbus A340, which the airline did not buy.  The article appears driven by Airbus saying that unless Air NZ orders the Airbus A340 soon, it will not be able to get any until the mid or late 90s, and that would mean Air NZ would be "forced" to pay more, to buy a Boeing aircraft sooner.  The article claims the airline needs to consider replacements for its Boeing 747-200 fleet and Boeing 767-200ER fleet for the late 1990s.  In fact, the 747-200s were not phased out completely until 2000 and were replaced by Boeing 747-400s, that had initially been leased to Cathay Pacific (due to an industrial dispute), and the 767-200ERs were not phased out until 2005.

The article notes that Air NZ had been privatised in 1989 to a Brierley consortium including Qantas, JAL and American Airlines, and speculated that airline management had been focused on business other than fleet replacement, including the floating of 30% of the airline's shares on the stockmarket.  There are questionable claims, like how the Airbus A340 would be an "ideal" complement, to the 747, although later experience indicated that it was a poor alternative to the Boeing 777 (although this would not appear in Air NZ's fleet until 2005).

A good deal of the article appears based on Airbus marketing, as it was frustrated that Qantas did not order the Airbus A340, and touted it as "missing out" on the latest technology and lower seat costs. Airbus was also selling the A330, at the time it was seen as a medium-haul wide body in competition with the 767, with the A340 being for long haul (with four engines in the age before ETOPS gave the A330, 767 and 777 permission to render the A340 and eventually 747 redundant).  Airbus appeared frustrated that Air NZ had never ordered from it (and it did not until its first Airbus A320s arrived in 2003 to replace Boeing 737-300s on short-haul international routes. 

It was noticed that 1990 was a period with high demand for new aircraft.  Apparently Continental Airlines (which subsequently pulled out of NZ, and merged with United in 2012) claimed it would fly A340s from LAX to AKL (it did not).  The Airbus A340 was not introduced into service until 1993, and although it had some early success, it was overshadowed within a few years by the Boeing 777 and production ceased in 2012.  

The article notes availability of the McDonnell Douglas MD-11, but it is described as "interim technology" (and its performance was underwhelming compared to the Airbus A340.  It warned that Air NZ better order aircraft soon or it would have a "fleet of old buses".

In conclusion, the article proved wrong. Air NZ ordered the Boeing 767-300ER as its mid-sized long haul aircraft and operated them from 1991 to 2017, primarily to Asia, but also to Perth and the stopping services across the Pacific such as AKL-PPT-LAX and AKL-RAR-LAX.