When refreshing the interiors of aging jets, some airlines do a wholesale, nose-to-tail replacement of the seats and inflight entertainment. Others opt for a partial refurbishment by retaining the good and replacing the outdated.

And so we turn to Air New Zealand, which will give its seven legacy Boeing 777-300ERs a glow up starting in March 2027 by installing new Business Premier and Economy class seats, retaining the existing Premium Economy seating platform, and taking a ‘partial retrofit’ approach to the IFE in partnership with longtime partner Panasonic Avionics.

As part of this announcement, Air New Zealand becomes a new customer of Panasonic’s next-gen 4K OLED-based Astrova IFE monitors for Economy class, Runway Girl Network can confirm.

“Our Boeing 777-300ER aircraft continue to play a key role in our international network, and upgrading the interiors means we can keep these aircraft flying for longer, while reducing the maintenance demands that come with an older cabin product,” says Air New Zealand chief customer & digital officer Jeremy O’Brien.

Let’s take a look.

Under the newly announced plan, seat count remains the same at 342 seats overall, including 44 in Business Premier. However, Air New Zealand is removing two Premium Economy seats for a total of 52 and adding two Economy seats for a total of 246 to accommodate the new layout up front.

Business Premier

Though it is the process of rolling out Safran Visa inward-facing herringbones on its Boeing 787-9s — with all seats pointing towards the aisle — Air New Zealand has notably selected Collins Aerospace’s Elevation doored reverse-herringbone mini-suites to replace the dated inward-facing seats currently aboard its 777-300ERs.

Center seats in the 1-2-1-configured Business Premier cabin will have sliding privacy dividers. Image: Air New Zealand

Elevation is a solid and safe choice for Air New Zealand, ensuring it has a competitive product that is similar to the reverse herringbone seats now flying on the trio of ex-Cathay 777-300ERs it dry leases (seats that still come in for high praise, nearly two decades after they set the original standard.)

The introduction of Elevation on the 777-300ERs will be especially appreciated by flying enthusiasts who enjoy being able to easily gaze out the window when seated in a window seat.

Importantly, Air New Zealand is adopting much larger IFE screens for the new Business Premier product on the 777-300ERs.

Wave ‘goodbye’ to the current minuscule 11″ Panasonic eX3 IFE screens and say ‘hello’ to 18″ eX3 monitors with Bluetooth audio connectivity, plus both USA-A and USB-C power ports.

O’Brien says the updated Business Premier cabin “will deliver a modern experience for our customers and brings similar functionality to the new seats being rolled out across our 787-9 fleet.”

But there are a few key differences, beyond the layout.

Whereas only the front-row, biz-plus Business Premier Luxe seats on the 787-9s have sliding doors, all Business Premier seats on the 777-300ERs will feature doors.

RGN also notes with interest that the IFE screens on the refitted 787-9s are sized a whopping 24″ as opposed to the 18″ screens for the 777-300ERs. But the 777-300ER mini-suites will be more spacious on account of the wider cabin of the 777-300ER. Offering larger screens on the 787-9s could be a clever way of addressing the disparity.

Down back, Air New Zealand has selected new ergonomically designed Economy class seats from ZIM Aircraft Seating, the same seatmaker that provides the carrier’s Premium Economy product, which recently received new seat covers on the 777-300ERs.

Economy

Extra-legroom Economy Stretch seats will feature 35″ pitch while standard Economy seats will offer 31-32″ pitch, the airline says.

The new 4K OLED-based Astrova IFE screens for Economy will be sized 13″ and come with Bluetooth audio connectivity, as well as a USB-C power port.

Air New Zealand’s passengers should expect a stellar viewing experience. Since its debut on an Icelandair A321LR and on subsequent airlines, the modular Astrova hardware has attracted high engagement, Panasonic Avionics CEO Ken Sain noted this spring.

“We conducted a global study analyzing passenger behavior before and after the introduction of Astrova. And we measured IFE use in ‘passenger engagement minutes’ per flight and compared the use before Astrova and after Astrova. And we did this on 1,400 flights carrying 415,000 passengers across 100… routes and four airlines. We observed a large increase in seatback IFE users,” Sain revealed at the Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg.

“So, more passengers are attracted to the seatback and it’s because of Astrova’s beautiful screens. And we’re seeing it attracting 18% more passengers per flight.”

Air New Zealand expects to press its first refitted 777-300ER into service in May 2027.