Source: Radio New Zealand
AFP
Business travellers are among those reducing their visits to regions due to Air New Zealand ditching some flights, an expert says.
More cutbacks to flights came to light on Thursday after Nelson mayor Nick Smith and Bay of Plenty MP Tom Rutherford posted about them on social media.
In a post to his Facebook page, Nick Smith said Air New Zealand was cutting an additional 23 Nelson flights to and from Auckland, 32 to Wellington and 15 to and from Christchurch between 29 June to 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 in his post.
“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.”
Nelson Regional Development Agency visitor destination manager Craig Boodee told Morning Report, also agreed the cuts were a concern for the region.
“It does create hesitation for people to book travel, because they might think their flights will get cancelled. And, I understand why Air New Zealand has to make some of these cuts to save on costs, many of the tourism operators are having to do the same,” Boodee said.
“Winter is our quiet time of year, about 15 percent of our visitor spend happens over winter. We need every visitor we can get during that time.”
Boodee said it was not just people cutting back on their holidays that was impacting tourism.
“Business visitors that come on monthly sales calls, they’re spreading that out now. They’re pushing it out to about six weekly.
“That’s our bread and butter over winter. Those regular business visitors that come in, they often pay a little higher prices for accommodation, and they often get their breakfast and dinner covered.
“So, it’s critical. We need those visitors,” he said.
Boodee was worried about the long-term future of regional services.
“Forward bookings are looking good, so we need these flights to come back. We can’t let that business slip between our fingers. It’s critical we get flight availability back onto the network.”
He said some tour operators have told him they’ve had their best summer since Covid.
Higher fuel costs to blame
In a statement, Air New Zealand confirmed it had made a number of changes to its schedule in July, in response to increased fuel costs.
“These consolidations affect around 2 percent of passengers due to travel across this period. 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.”
The airline said customers whose updated flight didn’t suit their plans could choose a refund or credit.
Flights to Tauranga have also been cut back, said Bay of Plenty MP Tom Rutherford who also posted on his social media about the change.
“From 29 June to 26 July they will be removing 27 return flights on the Tauranga-Auckland route, 12 return flights on the Tauranga-Wellington route, and five return flights on the Tauranga-Christchurch route,” Rutherford posted.
James Meager RNZ / Marika Khabazi
Subsidies a possibility
The minister in charge of aviation says subsidies for regional airlines will have to be considered as more flights to regional airports are cut.
Regional airlines including Air Chathams, Sounds Air and Island Air have drawn down loans from the Government – a measure that was already underway before the war in the Middle East.
James Meager told Nine to Noon subsidies for airlines would not be his first choice, but will have to be considered.
He says advice from officials on how to support the sector is expected in a couple of weeks.
Cuts to flights a global issue
Simon Calder, travel correspondent for The Independent told on Morning Report, flight cutbacks could become much worse later in the year, if the Iran war situation remained unchanged.
“By September, I am going to predict airlines in Europe will be cancelling flights, not just in the tens of thousands, possibly in the hundreds of thousands, keeping planes on the ground, because, with the very high price of fuel, it won’t be worth flying them,” he said.
“This is all combined with a reduction in demand, simply because people in Europe are thinking, well, I’m not really sure what’s going on in the world. I don’t want to commit. This is all very bad news for the airlines.”
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
