Source: Radio New Zealand
The airline says the changes are because of the ongoing impact of high fuel costs. AFP
Air New Zealand has made further cuts to some regional flights, in what one mayor calls “disappointing news”.
The flag carrier last announced reductions earlier this month citing ongoing high costs for jet fuel.
On Thursday, Nelson mayor Nick Smith said a further 23 flights were being between his city and Auckland, 32 to and from Wellington, and 15 to and from Christchurch.
The cut flights are between 29 June and 26 July.
“This is the third time Nelson flights to and from Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch have been axed temporarily since the war in Iran started and brings the total number of flights lost to 266 or about 12,000 seats,” Smith said .
He said the latest cuts reduced seat capacity for Auckland by 8.7 percent, Christchurch by 10.3 percent and Wellington by 15.2 percent over the four weeks.
“This is likely to affect seat availability and prices as well as reduce Air NZ’s ability to manage disruptions including weather-related delays and cancellations,” Smith said.
“This is disappointing news for Nelson. While it is understandable, with no concrete signs of de-escalation of the oil crisis in the Middle East, it will have an impact on the number of visitors to the region and make it more difficult for people travelling for work, to access healthcare and take holidays outside the region,” he added.
“The loss of flights will also have a negative effect on council’s finances as a 50 percent owner in Nelson Airport Ltd.”
Smith repeated earlier concerns about his region’s tourism.
“I continue to encourage Nelson people considering taking a holiday in the next couple of months to think about options locally such as Golden Bay, Abel Tasman or Nelson Lakes to help our local tourism sector.”
In Tauranga, which has also faced earlier cuts, Bay of Plenty MP Tom Rutherford also highlighted new reductions.
“From 29 June to 26 July they will be removing 27 return flights on the Tauranga-Auckland route (mainly mid-morning and late night services Monday to Wednesday plus mid-day on Thursday), 12 return flights on the Tauranga-Wellington route (mid-day Monday to Friday), and 5 return flights on the Tauranga-Christchurch route,” he said.
“For context, there will still be 375 return flights scheduled to and from Tauranga during this period.”
Air New Zealand told RNZ that it had made a small number of schedule changes because of the ongoing impact of high fuel costs.
“These consolidations affect around 2 percent of passengers due to travel across this period,” the airline said.
“We’ve targeted the consolidations to minimise disruption and to ensure that the vast majority of impacted customers can still travel on the same day.”
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
