Air NZ domestic fares rising

WELLINGTON: Air New Zealand is doing away with the option for passengers to buy food on its shorthaul flights, instead offering everyone on board a snack or meal.

The airline has announced changes to its shorthaul flights from June.

But from today, the airline will be increasing longterm domestic fares across all routes.

In a statement, Air NZ acting general manager for domestic Jeremy O’Brien said the airline had faced increasing costs over the past couple of years like many New Zealand businesses.

‘‘As we’ve previously signalled, our cost base has risen more than 30%. To date, we’ve absorbed as much of this as we can.

‘‘To reflect higher costs of providing air services, we need to continue to review our pricing.’’

House of Travel chief operating officer Brent Thomas told RNZ Air NZ had indicated prices were going to change and inflation had been ‘‘running hot’’ over the past few months.

Domestically, there was not much competition so travellers would have to take what was available to them — and people would have to wait until today to see the detail of those increases, Mr Thomas said.

People who were able to book well in advance would still be able to get good fares but those booking last minute — whether for a family emergency or corporate travel ‘‘are paying the price’’.

Airfares were ‘‘significantly cheap’’ before Covid19, but costs had gone up, Mr Thomas said.

‘‘I think we all know that when we go fill up our car, the price of petrol’s gone up. Facing the same thing — a significant part of running an airline, of course, is the jet fuel and that has gone up.’’

It was fair that the airline passed that cost on to consumers, Mr Thomas said.

As part of changes to simplify the airline’s different fares, everyone will have access to Air New Zealand’s full entertainment suite, and be served a snack or a meal, as well as tea, coffee, water and juice.

Air New Zealand is also discontinuing its seat+bag fares, though will allow seatonly customers to add a checked bag for a $30 fee.

Seatonly customers travelling to Australia and the Pacific previously received no food with their airfare, and had the option to buy a range of snacks on board.

That option will be discontinued under the change, but passengers will still be able to buy drinks.

The fare types available from June 11 will be: theworks, worksflexi, premiumeconomy, premiumflexi, businesspremier and businessflexi.

Works customers will still receive the same inclusions of a checked bag, a full meal and drinks, entertainment and free standard seat selection.

The updates were based on customer feedback and changes passengers were looking for, the airline’s statement said.

Air New Zealand yesterday downgraded its fullyear earnings guidance, as it faces softening domestic demand and a competitive North American travel market.

Pretax earnings for the 2024 financial year were forecast to be in the range of $190 million to $230m, lower than previous guidance of $200m$240m and a significant drop from 2023 pretax earnings of $585m. — RNZ