The move would affect about 44,000 of the 1.9 million passenger trips scheduled during that time, with most being reaccommodated or eligible for a refund or credit. <\/p>\n
No route would be axed completely. <\/p>\n
An Air NZ spokesperson told the Advocate that passengers booked on affected flights were being contacted directly, and most had been as of Friday. Due to the complexity of the changes to the schedule, the company wouldn\u2019t publish the affected flights. <\/p>\n
\u201cTo help keep flying as affordable as possible and be as efficient with fuel as we can be, we have consolidated a small number of flights between March 16 and May 3,\u201d the spokesperson said. <\/p>\n
\u201cAffected customers will experience minimal disruption, with the majority travelling on the same day as their original booking.\u201d<\/p>\n
Northland MP Grant McCallum<\/a> said he was privy to a full list of the cancelled flights, which were all in the mid-morning to mid-afternoon. <\/p>\n While it was \u201creally disappointing\u201d to see regional services being reduced, it was understandable given the global situation, McCallum said. He was pleased there were no adjustments for Northland over Easter, describing it as \u201ca small blessing for tourism here\u201d. <\/p>\n Like Couper and other regional mayors interviewed by the media this week,<\/a> McCallum said he was very keen to see any reduced regional flight schedules being returned to normal once the global situation stabilised and fuel prices eased. <\/p>\n He and Couper both stressed that maintaining strong connectivity for all regions was crucial. <\/p>\n Air NZ\u2019s new chief executive Nikhil Ravishankar told One News this week the current situation was at a level where people should only \u201cpanic slowly\u201d. <\/p>\n The cancellations mostly affect flights to and from Wellington, Christchurch and Auckland<\/a>, with some smaller centres also impacted. He said affected flights would be kept to the more remote parts of the country. <\/p>\n \u201cWe will reaccommodate passengers who are affected on to flights the same day \u2013 by and large. If two flights are half-full, we are consolidating that into a single flight so that we are only burning one aircraft\u2019s worth of fuel.” <\/p>\n While the changes were currently planned to last until early May, they could be extended, he said. <\/p>\n \u201cWe will have these interventions in place until fuel prices get back to what I would define as the \u2018normal range\u2019 \u2013 between $US80-$90 per barrel.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Thursday\u2019s aviation fuel prices, for instance, were $US170per barrel. <\/p>\nBarrier Air flies 14-seater aircraft numerous times weekly to Kerikeri and Kait\u0101ia. Photo \/ Barrier Air<\/p>\n
Nikhil Ravishankar, Air New Zealand chief executive since October last year, described the current aviation fuel squeeze as a “panic slowly” situation. Photo \/ Michael Craig<\/p>\n