Air NZ to Add Flights to Australia

By VAN DEN BERGH, Roeland

AIR NEW ZEALAND is to increase its flights to Australia from Wellington in response to public demand and looming competition.

From October 26 there will be an additional weekly service to Melbourne, taking the number of return flights to eight a week.

There would also be another flight to Brisbane, taking the service to six return flights a week. Both services would be operated using Airbus A320 aircraft.

Air New Zealand head of short-haul airlines Bruce Parton said the additional flights were in response to strong demand.

“Customers are telling us that they want greater choice in and out of Wellington and we’re responding to that.”

Wellington airport has consistently called for airlines to add more capacity to ease a severe shortage of seats out of the city.

Trans-Tasman passenger numbers had risen 1.4 per cent from a year earlier, with no increase in aircraft capacity. Aircraft were, on average, flying at more than 80 per cent full.

In its latest market update, the airport said that, till more seats were offered, Wellingtonians would have to travel to Australia through Auckland or Christchurch.

Wellington airport director Tim Brown said yesterday that the Melbourne services, in particular, were under-served.

But two weeks ago Air New Zealand chief executive Rob Fyfe struck back at the airport’s complaints, saying that service cuts early last year had returned the Wellington route to profitability.

“A combination of sustained demand and capacity reductions has simply struck a balance of supply and demand in the market that has far more chance of remaining economically sustainable.”

Budget airline Pacific Blue is also expected to announce more Australian services from Wellington, and super-low cost Tiger Airways, which began flying in Australia in November, also has New Zealand on its radar.

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