Jetstar hits back at Air New Zealand’s price move

Low-cost carrier Jetstar has responded to Air New Zealand’s pricing announcement by highlighting that it was offering cheap airfares all along.

On Tuesday Air New Zealand boasted about how it was shaking up its pricing by cutting entrylevel airfares by up to 50 per cent on 41 domestic routes, resulting in more than 750,000 seats a year available for less than $50.

Jetstar spokesman Phil Boyen said, despite having a aircraft fleet a fifth of the size of Air New Zealand, last year it sold nearly 600,000 domestic fares for under $50 and more than 1.75 million domestic fares for under $100.

Air New Zealand would not say how many flights a year were available under $50 prior to its Tuesday announcement.

Qantas Airways-owned Jetstar offers a range of one-way domestic airfares for under $50, including Wellington to Nelson from $29, Auckland to New Plymouth from $32, Auckland to Napier from $35, and Auckland to Wellington from $39.

‘‘We’re very happy that Jetstar continues to shake up the domestic market nearly 10 years after we first started flying within New Zealand, with more low fares offered to New Zealand travellers than ever before,’’ Boyen said.

Jetstar’s ‘‘price beat guarantee’ meant that if travellers found a flight with another airline that was cheaper, Jetstar would beat it by 10 per cent, he said.

Jetstar had not changed its pricing following Air New Zealand’s announcement, he said.

‘‘We already had the lowest everyday fares on offer.’’

Air New Zealand has 42 domestic routes. The one entry-level fare that did not change on Tuesday was its Auckland to Nelson route, and an Air New Zealand spokeswoman said that was because the fare was already reduced to $49 in December.

Jetstar has 12 domestic routes to nine destinations.

Jetstar took on Air New Zealand in the regions when it introduced services to Napier, New Plymouth, Palmerston North and Nelson in 2015.

Aviation expert Irene King said because Jetstar had fewer aircraft in New Zealand it was more exposed to network delays if its aircraft were grounded due to maintenance or weatherrelated issues.

‘‘If anything goes wrong with one or two of those aircraft then it starts to cause severe disruptions to the network.’’

At times crewing requirements also forced Jetstar to cancel flights, as some Eagles fans discovered on Tuesday.

King said Air New Zealand’s airfare announcement was lacking details, and the airline should come out and provide more clarity for the market about how many reduced airfares it would be offering per day and on what flights they were on.

‘‘I don’t think they were clear in what all of the pricing arrangements were. There were so many things missing out of the announcement.’’

She said the changes were not substantial and certainly not the biggest shakeup in 10 or 15 years.

‘‘This just seemed like a cold cup of coffee.’’

Regional Economic Development Minister and Air New Zealand critic Shane Jones told RNZ he hoped it was a genuine attempt by the airline to offer cheaper prices across the board and not ‘‘a one-night stand for travellers’’.