{"id":567431,"date":"2026-08-13T04:32:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T04:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/567431\/"},"modified":"2026-08-13T04:32:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T04:32:09","slug":"air-nz-chief-on-whether-regional-airline-links-can-be-saved","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/567431\/","title":{"rendered":"Air NZ chief on whether regional airline links can be saved"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the office of Regional Development Minister Shane Jones pointed out a few hours before the ceremony<\/a>, $465,000 from the Regional Infrastructure Fund also supported the interlining deal.<\/p>\n

After the ceremony, media asked Ravishankar if he could guarantee Air New Zealand would keep its existing regional routes.<\/p>\n

There was no emphatic yes. But in aviation, things are rarely simple.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re at the moment very much focused around keeping regional aviation sustainable.<\/p>\n

\u201cA 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said within the existing network, the airline was focused on fine-tuning schedules and assessing if the right aircraft were being used.<\/p>\n

There have already been cuts to service frequencies across many routes<\/a>, but no routes cut entirely.<\/p>\n

In a minority of cases, the airline has upgauged, meaning a move from the 50-seater Q300 to the 68-seater ATR72.<\/p>\n

Ravishankar said the airline was happy with the turboprops in its fleet.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur Q300s are coming up to a big lifecycle refresh moment, but that\u2019s not for a few years now. Our fleet health is in very good shape.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bigger jets might get more attention, but the airline\u2019s 54 turboprops are the regional workhorses.<\/p>\n

There was no indication that the airline had any interest in adding new domestic destinations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a fairly extensive regional network and domestic network. There are 20 ports that we connect into,\u201d Ravishankar said.<\/p>\n

Those destinations stretch from Kerikeri to Invercargill. Chatham Island is not among those destinations.<\/p>\n

Ravishankar said cost inflation in aviation had far outstripped the consumers price index in recent years. <\/p>\n

The expanded Air Chathams interlining deal was an innovative solution, he said.<\/p>\n

\"LocalsLocals and aviation sector leaders from New Zealand at this week’s ceremony on Chatham Island. Photo \/ John Weekes<\/p>\n

Interlining allowed airlines to sell services another airline provided.<\/p>\n

It was a type of agreement usually the domain of much larger airlines, Ravishankar said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve shrunk that down and tried to simplify it so we can use the same technique to connect with regional airlines and Air New Zealand.\u201d<\/p>\n

The local partnership started with just one Air NZ-Air Chathams agreement on Whakat\u0101ne<\/a> 10 months ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe initial launch with Whakat\u0101ne was quite a success,\u201d Ravishankar said. <\/p>\n

The expanded network now includes Auckland-Whanganui, Auckland-Chatham Islands, Wellington-Chatham Islands, and Christchurch-Chatham Islands.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s still more work to do, you know, cargo services, potentially looking at international interlining,\u201d Ravishankar said on Wednesday afternoon.<\/p>\n

But how much pressure does Air NZ face to keep funding its existing regional routes, whether or not they\u2019re profitable?<\/p>\n

\u201cLook, Air New Zealand\u2019s purpose is to enrich New Zealand by connecting New Zealanders to each other and New Zealand to the world,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said people should think of the airline as a complex network of nodes that had to stay interconnected.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the sustainability of regional routes next year, he said fuel prices were the biggest factor.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you know anything about the Iran crisis that I\u2019m not aware of that gives me more [certainty] around fuel price, that\u2019s the real joker in the pack, unfortunately for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

John Weekes<\/a> is a business journalist covering aviation. He previously covered consumer affairs, crime, politics and courts.<\/p>\n

Stay ahead with the latest market moves, corporate updates, and economic insights by subscribing to our Business newsletter<\/a> \u2013 your essential weekly round-up of all the business news you need.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the office of Regional Development Minister Shane Jones pointed out a few hours before the ceremony, $465,000…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":567432,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1443,68,4376,5195,138,198,3937,4527,71,75115,16609,6036,13840,2442,5978,111,139,77627,69,90,77628,5914,17162,4525,14905,197],"class_list":["post-567431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-about","tag-air","tag-airline","tag-be","tag-business","tag-can","tag-chief","tag-doesnt","tag-from","tag-hear","tag-iran","tag-know","tag-like","tag-links","tag-might","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nikhil","tag-nz","tag-on","tag-ravishankar","tag-regional","tag-saved","tag-something","tag-whether","tag-you"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=567431"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567431\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/567432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=567431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=567431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=567431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}