Keeping cellphones off during flights will soon be a thing of the past with Air New Zealand set to introduce new aircraft with mobile and internet services later this year.

Air New Zealand is increasing its international capacity by 4.9 per cent and domestic capacity by 3.8 per cent as it starts to see a recovery in air travel.

Claims from travelers disrupted by the Iceland volcano have topped half a million dollars, one of NZ's leading travel insurance companies says.

A jobless jetsetter is snapping up dozens of Air New Zealand's $1 Grabaseat fares - so he can earn enough Status points to gain gold flyer perks.

Air New Zealand climbed from eighth-best in the world last year's to fifth in this year's annual world airline awards.

Over 17.9 million passengers have cast their vote for the world's top airlines in a Skytrax survey.

Air New Zealand has begun hiring new cabin crew - but is not offering jobs to any of the flight attendants made redundant in last year's downturn.

Air NZ has taken an unusual approach as it defends itself from claims an alliance with Virgin will mean an inevitable downgrade of its services.

Ruben van Assouw joins a list of more than a dozen known examples of sole survivors from air disasters.

The Netherlands has gone into mourning over the deaths of at least 61 Dutch citizens among the 104 people on a plane that crashed in Libya.

The ash cloud from Iceland's Eyjafjallajokul volcano is still causing havoc for flights across the Atlantic.

An Air NZ flight attendant has been sacked after mistakenly sending a "highly derogatory and offensive" email about an Air NZ manager to the man himself.

A partnership between Air New Zealand and Australian airline Virgin Blue that could result in up to 80 more flights across the Tasman each week is unlikely to deliver cheaper fares, aviation experts say.