Marlborough Express - Weekend Express
Auckland connection ‘standout winner’
Air New Zealand has described its Blenheim to Auckland route as a ‘‘standout winner’’ in its domestic flight overhaul, with fares now starting at $49.
Air New Zealand has described its Blenheim to Auckland route as a ‘‘standout winner’’ in its domestic flight overhaul, with fares now starting at $49.
The national carrier revealed its new pricing structure on Tuesday afternoon, with the Blenheim-Auckland lead-in seat fare dropping by $34.
Flights from Blenheim to Wellington now start at $39.
‘‘Not only will it be even more affordable for locals to explore the rest of New Zealand direct out of Blenheim, these new fares will help bring more of the benefits of tourism to the area by encouraging visitors to discover everything Marlborough has to offer,’’ an Air NZ spokesperson said.
Marlborough Airport chief executive Dean Heiford said the new, cheaper fares were ‘‘brilliant’’ news.
"Affordable access for domestic, international tourists and business people will hopefully stimulate more air travel and mean I’m going to have to build my car park even quicker,’’ Heiford said.
‘‘I think the Marlborough community have always been keen travellers. Hopefully this will stimulate them to visit other parts of New Zealand and hopefully it will mean they travel out of Blenheim rather than travelling over to Nelson.’’
On Monday, Air New Zealand announced it was cutting entry level airfares by up to 50 per cent on about 40 domestic routes, the biggest overhaul of its domestic pricing structure in more than a decade.
Expensive flights in and out of Blenheim have long been a sore point for Marlburians, with Heiford saying earlier on Tuesday cheaper fares were ‘‘something that people in Marlborough and the region have been asking for, for years.’’
In May 2016, Air New Zealand canned direct flights between Blenheim and Christchurch.
A few months later, the Kaiko¯ura earthquake took out State Highway 1 and Marlborough Mayor John Leggett asked Air New Zealand to reconsider its decision.
More than two years later, Blenheim was still calling for the Blenheim-Christchurch route.
‘‘We still want Christchurch direct at some stage,’’ Heiford said. ‘‘Frequency is always something you want, but let’s take each step as we get it.’’
In November 2018, Heiford said Marlborough Airport needed 78,000 more passengers a year to attract competing airlines into the market and drive down prices.
Heiford said Jetstar was ‘‘probably the most obvious’’ major airline contender to move into Marlborough.
At the Marlborough Airport terminal on Tuesday, before Air NZ revealed its new prices, passengers and people on pickup runs were already planning more frequent flying with the potentially cheaper seats.
Blenheim retiree Rob Leask said his children lived in Wellington so they would fly a few times a year, using the ‘‘Graba-seat’’ flights.
‘‘We never pay full price because it’s a fortune for my wife and I who are pensioners.’’
If flights dropped to half the cost, they would fly more often, Leask said.