I thought it was Y, Y+ *and* J? I certainly remember that from the original announcements, though whether that is what they still intend to do remains to be seen.
Personally, I'd be very sorry to see trans-Tasman J go... but only because I enjoy spending my points on upgrading into it. I would never actually *pay* for it, so from NZ's point of view my argument is less than compelling.
Having said that, given that the new longhaul Y+ has business class food and wine, plus the facelifted shorthaul cabins will have the new AVOD personal entertainment systems, isn't the current shorthaul business offering on the A320 not so far different from the 747 Y+? J on the 767 is a different matter, and I do think NZ would be shooting itself in the foot to ditch business class on peak time AKL-SYD-AKL and AKL-MEL-AKL routes...
It will be very interesting to see what eventuates. Outside of Asia, I'm not aware of anywhere in the world where shorthaul business class routes get the level of service they do in Australasia - look at what passes for business class in Europe and 'first class' in the US - so perhaps this was an inevitability? The difference being that NZ is honest enough to call it Y+ rather than business
