As the office of Regional Development Minister Shane Jones pointed out a few hours before the ceremony, $465,000 from the Regional Infrastructure Fund also supported the interlining deal.
After the ceremony, media asked Ravishankar if he could guarantee Air New Zealand would keep its existing regional routes.
There was no emphatic yes. But in aviation, things are rarely simple.
“We’re at the moment very much focused around keeping regional aviation sustainable.
“A lot of our focus is around being able to navigate the challenges that the war in Iran has thrown at us … but as you look through that crisis, we will continually review the network itself.”
He said within the existing network, the airline was focused on fine-tuning schedules and assessing if the right aircraft were being used.
There have already been cuts to service frequencies across many routes, but no routes cut entirely.
In a minority of cases, the airline has upgauged, meaning a move from the 50-seater Q300 to the 68-seater ATR72.
Ravishankar said the airline was happy with the turboprops in its fleet.
“Our Q300s are coming up to a big lifecycle refresh moment, but that’s not for a few years now. Our fleet health is in very good shape.”
The bigger jets might get more attention, but the airline’s 54 turboprops are the regional workhorses.
There was no indication that the airline had any interest in adding new domestic destinations.
“We have a fairly extensive regional network and domestic network. There are 20 ports that we connect into,” Ravishankar said.
Those destinations stretch from Kerikeri to Invercargill. Chatham Island is not among those destinations.
Ravishankar said cost inflation in aviation had far outstripped the consumers price index in recent years.
The expanded Air Chathams interlining deal was an innovative solution, he said.
Locals and aviation sector leaders from New Zealand at this week’s ceremony on Chatham Island. Photo / John Weekes
Interlining allowed airlines to sell services another airline provided.
It was a type of agreement usually the domain of much larger airlines, Ravishankar said.
“We’ve shrunk that down and tried to simplify it so we can use the same technique to connect with regional airlines and Air New Zealand.”
The local partnership started with just one Air NZ-Air Chathams agreement on Whakatāne 10 months ago.
“The initial launch with Whakatāne was quite a success,” Ravishankar said.
The expanded network now includes Auckland-Whanganui, Auckland-Chatham Islands, Wellington-Chatham Islands, and Christchurch-Chatham Islands.
“There’s still more work to do, you know, cargo services, potentially looking at international interlining,” Ravishankar said on Wednesday afternoon.
But how much pressure does Air NZ face to keep funding its existing regional routes, whether or not they’re profitable?
“Look, Air New Zealand’s purpose is to enrich New Zealand by connecting New Zealanders to each other and New Zealand to the world,” he said.
“I caution us to oversimplify very complex concepts … We carry a lot of freight, too, for example, and the ability to take freight from regions to world markets also creates an economic drive that then allows for more passenger connectivity.”
He said people should think of the airline as a complex network of nodes that had to stay interconnected.
“We have already published schedules for the rest of the year. So any assurance you seek is in the tickets you can go and buy already.”
On the sustainability of regional routes next year, he said fuel prices were the biggest factor.
“If you know anything about the Iran crisis that I’m not aware of that gives me more [certainty] around fuel price, that’s the real joker in the pack, unfortunately for everyone.”
John Weekes is a business journalist covering aviation. He previously covered consumer affairs, crime, politics and courts.
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