As it prepares for the end-of-year travel rush, Air New Zealand has revealed how passengers spent their flying hours in 2025, sharing insights into what’s filled screens and headphones on board so far.
Millions of people choose Aotearoa’s national carrier each year for overseas holidays, family reunions, business travel and transiting.
Passengers have long relied on the tried and true in-flight entertainment system to pass the time during flights. While on-board Wi-Fi has changed that dynamic for some, seatback screens with personal messages and curated content remain a central part of the Air New Zealand experience.
Air New Zealand said its decades playlists had traditionally attracted the highest number of plays, with a familiar mix of tracks across eras and genres.
Yet, that pattern shifted earlier this year when the airline gained access to new music labels.
Taylor Swift has quickly climbed to the top of the charts, and 1989 (Taylor’s Version) and The Tortured Poets Department respectively rank as the year’s two most listened-to albums.
When it came to film, action titles dominated in-flight screens – as usual, the airline said.
Gladiator II was Air NZ passengers’ most-watched movie of 2025, with films like Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning (fifth most popular) and The Amateur (seventh) adding to the genre’s prominence.
Drama titles were the second most popular, bolstered mainly by viewership of Conclave, Juror #2 and It Ends With Us – the second, third and fourth most-popular flicks on board this year.
Kiwi content also found a strong audience, with home-grown film Tinā ranking among the airline’s top 10 most-watched movies.
Engagement with te reo Māori content continues to grow, with Air New Zealand rolling out te reo Māori dubs of major Disney films throughout the year, including Moana 2, The Lion King, Frozen, Encanto and Coco.
Other films that made the top-10 threshold included Wicked (sixth most popular) and Joker: Folie à Deux (ninth).
In television viewing, there was an embrace of the most popular contemporary shows and long-running sitcoms.
Bluey unsurprisingly topped the list of favourites, having won over kids and parents, followed by Friends and Me & Mickey.
Young Sheldon and The White Lotus also proved popular hits, with CoComelon, The Big Bang Theory, The Pitt, The Penguin and Saturday Night Live rounding out the top-10 list.
Together, the viewing and listening data shows passengers gravitating towards familiar stars, original storytelling and locally produced content (which the airline makes a conscious effort to deliver) as they took to the skies.
Air New Zealand is now in its busiest time of the year, with more than 2.7 million travellers flying with the airline in December and January.
Among those, 1.1 million travellers are heading overseas during the two months.
“Three Australian cities are firm favourites with 195,000 customers travelling to and from Sydney, 185,000 to and from Melbourne, and 120,000 to and from Brisbane,” Air New Zealand airports general manager Kate Boyer said.
“Around 170,000 customers will be crossing the Pacific, with Tahiti and Fiji clear go-to getaways.
“Further afield, Los Angeles sees 56,000 passengers connecting to and from New Zealand these holidays.”
Some domestic destinations also remained popular.
“Queenstown will see 260,000 customers travel to and from the region while Nelson is gearing up for 150,000 customers, and Dunedin 110,000,” Boyer said.
“Napier and the Bay of Plenty are also in hot demand this summer.”
Tom Rose is an Auckland-based journalist who covers breaking news, specialising in lifestyle, entertainment and travel. He joined the Herald in 2023.
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