The Route

The route between Perth and Auckland sees far less competition than between Australia’s east coast capitals and New Zealand’s largest city. In fact there is only a sole single daily service that has long been operated by Kiwi flagship carrier Air New Zealand. Currently the service is however technically operated by Spanish charter carrier Wamos Air on behalf of Air New Zealand through a wet lease arrangement where the Spanish carrier provides there Airbus A330-220 aircraft coupled with its pilots and cabin crew. Piror to October last year Air New Zealand operated the route themselves with their Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft however the airline has put the current arrangement in place (which it has recently extended to October 2023).

Prior to the pandemic Air New Zealand also ran additional services on the route with several days of the week also having a second daytime flight to Auckland in addition to the usual overnight service. Qantas has also previously operated seasonal services on the route as well. Currently flight time on the route is 6 hours and 25 minutes with the daily overnight departure leaving Perth at 7.50pm before a 6.15am arrival into Auckland the following day. Some may find this flight tiring due to the four hour time difference when you arrive into New Zealand it has only just gone 2am in Perth.

Cost wise this flight cost me around $600 one way with a special sale fare although due to limited capacity on the route for the direct flight it is not uncommon to see one way flights fetching over $1000 on this route.

Checking in at Perth

For today’s flight and eager to check out the Aspire Lounge I arrived at Perth Airport Internal Terminal 1 approximately 3.5 hours before departure or just after 4pm. Only problem is immediately after visiting a self service check in kiosk my check in request was unable to be processed and later I figure out that check in and bag drop doesen’t open to 3 hours prior to departure. With around 30 minutes to kill I visit the public observation deck to get some great views of the tarmac and the Wamos Air plane that would be taking us to Auckland tonight.

Whilst it wasn’t hard to fill in the time with quick visit to the observation deck, it was nonetheless disspaotining that Air New Zealand doesn’t appear to communicate in advance that check in doesn’t open to 3 hours before at Perth Airport which is something people should know as getting to the airport super early is probably not going to be ideal for this airline.

Anyway once 4.50pm comes around I immediately give check in and bag drop another go and it is flawless. The new centralised kiosk and bag drops at Perth Airport are state of the art and allow passengers of all participating airlines to check in and bag drop without needing to go a manned counter. A few minutes later with passport and boarding pass in hand its through immigration and security which are very quiet and I’m airside only a few minutes later.

Aspire Perth Airport Lounge

Arguably the best place to be when travelling out of Perth Airport’s international terminal is the newly opened Aspire Lounge. Opened in early 2022 after the re-opening of WA’s hard border the Aspire Lounge in Perth is truly world class and easily the fanciest lounge I’ve visited before. The best part to it is that you don’t necessary need to be flying business class to get in as Priority Pass or Lounge Key will get you in or otherwise you can book a visit online or pay to gain entry at the lounge.

Everything about this lounge is impressive and showcases class and style with a great variety of premium furnishing and quality amenities matched with a quality buffet and impressively well stock tendered bar with a strong showcase wines and beers from Western Australia. Perhaps the best part of this lounge is its views and it is no surprise why as it has taken space from the now smaller public observation deck on the top of terminal! In-fact the Wamos Air Airbus A330 was right underneath the window I was sitting by allowing me to see all the going on’s as it prepared for its flight over to NZ tonight.

I will be sure to do a seperate review on this lounge but in short this is the lounge to be visiting if you have Priority Pass or Lounge Key access. Those without any pathways to lounge access when flying out of Perth may also wish to pay for entry which while is on the steeper side at $AUD77 ($66 if booked online) you’ll be sure to get a quality experience in return!

Seating in Economy Class

Wamos Air operate the same usual Airbus A330-200 on this route travelling back and forth everyday between Perth and Auckland. Whilst the seating livery is rather generic and not the same style as Air New Zealand it is functional and surprisingly spacious nonetheless. Wamos Air Airbus A330-200 aircraft have 260 economy class seats in a 2-4-2 configuration with a further 20 business class lie flat seats up front. Seat pitch comes in at 32inch which is on the more generous side for most economy class cabins these days. Supplied at the seat was also a blanket and pillow which was a nice touch although unfortunately there is no adjustable head rest which is a slight shame. Aside from that you also get a fairly standard fold out tray table without any extra bells and whistles with it. All in all a fairly generic, albeit comfortable and functional seat here with Wamos Air in economy class.

Inflight service and food and beverage

Tonight’s flight over to Auckland came with a dinner service which began around 1 hour after takeoff. For tonight’s meal I get a reasonably well portioned offering all coming served on a single tray. It consist of Mac and cheese pasta with beef and although it didn’t’ win any awards for presentation it was reasonable tasty and filling. Along with this came a fairly standard salad and bread roll and a carrot case for desert.

Along with dinner was Air New Zealand’s drinks service consisting of your selection from soft drinks, juices, tea and coffee and a variety of NZ beers and wines. Spirits were also available on the trolley which was quite impressive. After dinner the Spanish crew were more than happy to supply a couple cheeky extra Steinlager’s which was much appreciated. All in all a pretty decent food and beverage service on tonight’s flight. You’ll be pleased to know that at least whilst the current arrangement with Wamos Air is in place all passengers get complimentary meals and drinks unlike all of Air New Zealand’s other trans-tasman flights.

Entertainment

One slight downside of the Wamos Air Airbus A330 being deployed on the route over Air New Zealand’s Dreamliners is in the entertainment department. Don’t fret as you still will get a IFE screen in the seat back although the range of content is rather limited – in fact the default language even seems to be in Spanish. There is a rather limited range of movies inclusive of a few new releases and several evergreens along with hardly any tv shows. Luckily you can still follow the flight’s progress with a reasonable decent in flight map. Quite possibly there will be something that takes your interest for this 6 hour flight but don’t bank on it and it may be worth loading up your own device with some content just in case.

Arriving into Auckland

Little over 5 hours after leaving Perth we were almost ready to start our pre-dawn descent into Auckland for a slightly early arrival. Tonight’s flight touched down right on 6am which is a very busy time at Auckland Airport with close to a dozen flights arriving from North and South America all within a hour or so of each other making for a very busy arrival and customs hall.

This morning we had to disembark at a remote stand via stairs and then onto a people moving bus that very much took us to a ‘trasdemen’ entrance into the terminal. Whilst it was an interesting ride in the bus across the tarmac to the terminal I did however find it to be a slightly ‘budget airline’ feel having to be bussed to the terminal from the remote stand especially for an internationally arriving flight.

By the time we made it to the terminal the big flights from North America had alreadycatched up to us ensuring it was a fairly lengthy wait of around 1 hour to get through customs. Whilst I wasn’t personally in any rush as was expecting not to be able to check in at the hotel to 2pm (thankfully they let me check in early) I did think the ground handling let Air New Zealand down slighlty for this flight.

Summing Up

In summing up today’s flight with Wamos Air I thought the Spanish charter airline did a really good job overall at trying to replicate Air New Zealand’s service standards. Whilst the aircraft used by Wamos are certainly not the newest and the entertainment options were basic I appreciated the really friendly crew, reasonably comfortable seat and fairy decent meal in addition to free flow drinks.

If anything it was Air New Zealand itself with their ground handling both in Perth and Auckland that put a slight dent to my otherwise really good experience with Wamos Air tonight. Would I fly Wamos Air again? Possibly for the sale price of $600 one way that I got although I would probably look for cheaper options when often the one way fares for this route surge beyond $1000!

One thing for sure however is that the sooner Air New Zealand return to operating their own aircraft on the route the better, not because the Wamos Air experience wasn’t enjoyable but because its arguably not an ideal reflection on the Kiwi carrier having to rely on another carrier to operate flights on their behalf. Hopefully Air New Zealand will be able to restore capacity across its network with a return to normal on the route come later this year.