Originally Posted by NZbutterfly

NZH and NZI spent time on ground ~ a week prior to flying to Singapore for the refits. I'm guessing some sort of prep work was required prior to the plane going into "hibernation" during the refit. Seems like this work is now occurring in Alice instead. No room in the AKL hangar? Not enough staff to complete that work? Is it our winter weather?

NZJ on the other hand which flew to SIN for maintenance flew commercially then straight to SIN, then returned and straight back to commercial service. No prep time, no induction service required on return.