What It’s Like to Fly in Air New Zealand’s New Business Class

“Is this the new plane?” the man in seat 1K asks the flight attendant, who is dressed in a well-tailored, deep purple Emilia Wickstead uniform. “That it is,” she says with a happy little curtsy. “It’s quite nice,” is the man’s initial review—we’ve only just boarded, after all. I’m one row behind in seat 2K, and finding Air New Zealand’s business class cabin to be quite nice as well.

It’s mid-June 2025 and my second trip aboard this newly-retrofitted 787-9 Dreamliner, the first of its kind to get such a nose-to-tail makeover. It first took me to Auckland ten days prior direct from New York-JFK—on that flight, I rode Economy Skycouch—and now the time has come for me to make my return by way of Vancouver. For this 13 hour sojourn, I get to sit in Business Premier. These seats have a new angle and layout to allow for increased privacy and space. My neighbor in 1K has it even better as he’s scored a Business Premiere Luxe ticket, with a larger bed and a door that fully closes. I’ll be alright, though. Below, find the details of Air New Zealand’s new business class product.

The Auckland Airport experience

This bit is not a new product: When you arrive in Auckland as a Business Premier customer, check-in (including bag check) is expedited and conducted in a private suite that’s hard to miss at the airport’s entrance. The lights are dim, the airline’s signature deep purple soothes from all sides, and before you know it your luggage has been sorted and you’re heading through the fast lane of security. The airport lounge, too, is not new, but has all the modern amenities you could need: showers, hot food, a full bar.

Onboard delights

The business class cabin is organized in a 1-2-1 configuration, meaning my seat in 2K has both window views and aisle access. The two adjacent seats in the center of the plane have a sliding divider between them, so that two passengers who know each other might book such a pair and keep that divider down. My seat has full lie-flat recline and linens in the overhead compartment above. The crew are keen to make up the bed for me when the time comes, and offer continuously, but I do it myself when they’re not looking because I’m on my own timeline. A sliding partial screen shuts below waist level, providing the most privacy when you’re fully reclined.

The headrest has the option of lifting up, even when the seat is fully reclined, so that I can lie back but still watch my 24” inflight entertainment screen. In-flight, I watch Brazilian film and recent Oscar winner I’m Still Here, which is great, but I do feel the lack of Kiwi cinema onboard (although Whale Rider is available to stream, which I watched on the way over). There are also many compartments here, there, and everywhere in which you can store your personal items. There’s one just below the screen, several in the console between my seat and the window, and another between my seat and the sliding screen. Be sure to take stock of where you’ve put what, because I fully disembark without my black amenity kit—lost in the shadows of the compartment at my feet—and have to return and ask a steward to retrieve it despite my first-on, first-off privileges.