\u201cThe reality is that the fuel crisis has put upward pressure on airfares. We are also seeing some increases in accommodation prices, although nowhere near to the same extent.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll this means that holidays are going to be relatively expensive for many New Zealanders this summer. I would anticipate that domestic travellers will continue their recent trend of being relatively conservative with their spending. Higher living costs remain a challenge, and the labour market is still not showing material signs of improvement.\u201d<\/p>\n
Air New Zealand said it had had to increase its fares in response to significantly higher jet fuel costs.<\/p>\n
\u201cHigher average fares have helped offset some of these additional costs, but haven\u2019t covered the full impact of fuel price increases.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile we can\u2019t put a single percentage on how domestic fares this summer will compare with last, prices vary depending on the route, demand, availability and when customers book. We know affordability matters to New Zealanders, and we\u2019re continuing to offer a range of fares across our domestic network. The best prices are generally available to those who book early.\u201d<\/p>\n
In an update on Wednesday, Air NZ said it carried 1% fewer passengers in the first quarter of the financial year than the same period a year earlier.<\/p>\n
Domestic passenger numbers were down 2.7%. Short-haul passenger numbers were up 3.7% and long-haul down 2.3%.<\/p>\n
It noted that Singapore jet fuel had increased in price from an average US$85 a barrel in the first quarter of the last financial year to an average of US$140.<\/p>\n
Justin Lester, of Dot Loves Data, said the amount being spent on airlines was up 15.92% from 2025 and 16.54% since 2024.<\/p>\n
\u201cTransaction count is down 5.28% from last year and up only 0.36% from 2024. As these numbers suggest, average spend has increased by a lot, 22.32% from 2025, 18.14% from 2024.\u201d<\/p>\n
Patterson said the \u201csilver lining\u201d for the tourism sector was that international visitor numbers were growing strongly.<\/p>\n
\u201cIndications from both Auckland and Christchurch airports, our two largest international gateways, suggest this growth will continue over the summer season.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor tourism operators that appeal to both domestic and international visitors, this growth in overseas arrivals should help offset any softness in the domestic market over the busy summer period.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThe reality is that the fuel crisis has put upward pressure on airfares. We are also seeing some…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":640738,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[12894,14740,806,5195,138,18399,813,6562,2082,1333,2956,1019,130,111,139,69,17096,174470,1436,14625,812,1961,4276,15411],"class_list":["post-640737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-12894","tag-airfares","tag-as","tag-be","tag-business","tag-christmas","tag-edmunds","tag-flights","tag-for","tag-get","tag-holidays","tag-international","tag-more","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-paying","tag-pricier","tag-rise","tag-summer","tag-susan","tag-this","tag-why","tag-youll"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640737","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=640737"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640737\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/640738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=640737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=640737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=640737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}