The changes covered travel between July 27 and October 24.<\/p>\n
The airline said in a statement today the jet fuel crisis and need to manage fuel availability network-wide were reasons for the schedule changes.<\/p>\n
\u201cTaking this approach now gives customers as much certainty as possible ahead of their travel, rather than making changes closer to departure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Air New Zealand said it targeted those \u201cconsolidations\u201d to minimise disruption.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are still millions of seats available to be booked both around New Zealand, and into and out of the country.\u201d<\/p>\n
Affected customers were being notified this week.<\/p>\n
\u201cCustomers whose updated flight doesn\u2019t suit their plans can choose a refund or credit,\u201d the airline said.<\/p>\n
\u201cCustomers who don\u2019t hear from Air New Zealand can be assured their flight is operating as scheduled.\u201d<\/p>\n
There was no suggestion any routes would be abolished.<\/p>\n
Domestic routes <\/p>\n
NZ Airports chief executive Billie Moore said data analysis showed flights on some regional routes in April and May so far were already down 10% on a year earlier.<\/p>\n
Of the new round of cuts, she said it was probably an overall 3-4% capacity reduction.<\/p>\n
\u201cAir New Zealand\u2019s clearly making an effort to get in touch with each airport,\u201d Moore said today.<\/p>\n
But that was not necessarily helpful in ascertaining a bigger picture of the overall reductions, she said.<\/p>\n
Moore said some regional routes had been under strain for years.<\/p>\n
She said domestic routes the de Havilland Q300 (Dash 8) turboprop served were down 27% from 2019 to May last year.<\/p>\n
Some of that likely reflected upgauging, or moving from Q300s to the airline\u2019s larger 68-seater ATR 72.<\/p>\n
Data from aviation analytics firm Cirium showed weekly seat numbers on ATR 72s were up 1.3% to 74,200 over the same period.<\/p>\n
The airline\u2019s narrowbody jet weekly seat numbers were down from 123,000 to 111,000.<\/p>\n
The Cirium data showed weekly domestic seat numbers overall were down from 251,000 pre-Covid to 225,200 a year ago.<\/p>\n
An Air New Zealand ATR 72 approaching Hawke’s Bay airport in 2022. Photo \/Warren Buckland<\/p>\n
Nelson Mayor Nick Smith told The Press that 191 flights to the Nelson region had been cut.<\/p>\n
He said the changes were effectively an extension of schedule reductions made in March, soon after the Iran-Israel-US war started.<\/p>\n
Air New Zealand also ditched dozens of flights into Dunedin.<\/p>\n
The Otago Daily Times said 50 return flights from Dunedin to Christchurch would be cancelled, mainly from Monday to Thursday afternoon.<\/p>\n
It said 23 Dunedin-Auckland return flights would be cancelled, mainly afternoon rotations on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.<\/p>\n
Air New Zealand said the new schedule changes for July-October started being rolled out yesterday.<\/p>\n
The airline said changes would be completed by the end of this week. <\/p>\n