Pacific Blue set to take on Air NZ's regional dominance
Christchurch-based Pacific Blue Airlines is considering operating jet services on New Zealand regional routes to break Air New Zealand’s monopoly in the sector.
The carrier has in the past few months been in talks with regional airport management including Hamilton, Palmerston North and Rotorua about a second-tier schedule.
Pacific Blue today began a three-day tour of regional airports with the Brazilian-built 104-seat Embraer 190 E-Jet it would use on the services. The aircraft was expected to be in Auckland late today.
Pacific Blue has operated 180-seat Boeing 737-800s on New Zealand domestic trunk routes for the past 18 months and commercial general manager Adrian Hamilton-Manns said other “tempting opportunities” existed in the market.
The Embraer has flown with Virgin Blue on Australian domestic services for the past two years and could also be ideal for New Zealand domestic operations, Mr Hamilton-Manns said.
“Our entry to the New Zealand market has brought real competition and driven the cost of travel down,” he said,
“but regional domestic fares remain uncompetitive – there is only one player in the market.
“But in the long run new routes and services must be commercially feasible and sustainable so we are doing our homework.”
The Embraer has a two-by-two configuration with leather seats.
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Comments and questions36
Someone wrote a whole buch of lies/rubbish above so I just fired back with rubbish. Apologise as that is not normally how I am.
From the outside looking in the management of airNZ looks historically very poor.
They are followers and 'blockers' to competition. A good well run business will lead the way with a positive approach. AirNZ will continue to survive with government backing but they need to do something about there negative approach to business.
I don't want to denigrate the company with NZ in its name any more. Actually could they remove the NZ bit as I am feeling embarassed by them.
Heres some facts. I was thinking - is it true that it's much cheeaper to Fly Pacific Blue - like theytell us on the TV ads - or is it a myth. So I just went to the web sites (Air NZ and Pacific Blue) in the last 5 minutes to look. On the Christchurch to Auckland route where the 2 airlines already operate and compete, I thought - if I needed to buy a ticket to fly to Auckland today what would it cost. Pacific Blue's cheapest was $159.95 for one flight only at 0955, and the best on other later flights is $259.95. And I think they charge me extra if I check in a bag. Air New Zealand is $130 on the 1150 or 1250 departure, $153 to depart at 1145, and $225 on lots of other flights. And no extra charge to check in one bag. So maybe it's a myth that PacificBlue is cheaper (like the lovely Pacific Blue TV ads say) I think (like the silent satisfied majority) I'll stick with Air New Zealand.
It would be great if they could include Tauranga in the service.
Let them come to Hawkes Bay as well and the quicker the better. All regional centres are being gouged by our so called national carrier!!
I would love to see some competition Napier/Auckland./ChCh etc. WE get slugged $350 to have a transferable return ticket to Auckland in case of a missed flight etc. I decided 2 years ago not to use Air NZ out of the country if there was an alternative, and so far have succeeded twice. I know a lot of other HB people feel the same.
The sooner they bring some competition to regional centres the better. We are being gouged and have been for years.
It would be great if they could include New Plymouth in the service.
Can't wait for the Invercargill - Auckland direct route. AirNZ has the big M in all the regional centres. Heading to OZ for Qeeens Birthday, cheaper than Napier!!
Bring it on .We are the 5th biggest population area in NZ 160.000 people and have a great tourist potential Wine Foood etc. It just costs too much to fly in and out of Hawkes Bay with Air Nz
Reading all these comments serves to reinforce the fact that in New Zealand we seem to be surrounded by people suffering from the "tall poppy" syndrome - which means promoting the attitude - if someone or some organisation or company (in this case Air New Zealand) does well, often against the odds,then lets kick them in the guts and cut them down to size. In this case, these "tall-poppy" people are saying "lets's support airlines from other countries rather than our own Air New Zealand." While airlines around the world are going bankrupt and/or laying off staff by the thousands, (some very close to home - e.g. Qantas) Air New Zealand continues to be managed very well and provide a great domestic and international service, and to it's credit it is so far avoiding any mass staff layoffs (Air New Zealand provides jobs to more than 10,000 people in New Zealand), despite a massive 82% drop in profit for the 6 months to 31 December compared to the same period the previous year. By the way, I declare that I own a handful of shares in Air New Zealand, and am proud to be a shareholder - I get annoyed when people say it Air New Zealand is government owned - because some of us mums and dads have purchased our own shares. Air New Zealand provides a great service to provincial New Zealand, and their are very low fares available. I live in Palmerston North, and we have about 20 domestic Air New Zealand flights a day departing here. I know of similar size cities in the USA who have no air service at all - they drive an hour or two to get to an airport with any reasonable domestic flights available. So how about supporting our great airline rather than buying in to the "tall poppy" society.
Re: the above post. I agree they provide regularity of service but do they provide value? By not having a competing airline in some provincial centres doesn't allow for efficient pricing, those route are cash cows and its our cash.
For the benefit of the poster from Palmy.
On Tuesday March 3rd 2009,I was sitting in Christchurch Airport.An announcement came over the speaker "The flight to New Plymouth has been cancelled due to engineeering problems.Please report to the desk."
On Thursday March 5th 2009,I was sitting in Auckland Airport.An announcement came over the speaker "The flight to New Plymouth has been cancelled due to engineering problems.Please report to the desk."
If I was travelling to New Plymouth for a specific purpose[which is why one normally travels] I would be rather annoyed.
Why leave it until I arrive at the airport to inform people.I may have driven two hours to get there in the first place.
I was at Wellington airport with my wife,went to check in,and had my son subject to an interrogation as to how old he was.I took it as a personal insult,but kept my mouth shut because there is no alternative airline.
I loved it when Air Nelson was operating,and would always use it instead of Air New Zealand.The staff were just so much friendlier and I felt they appreciated your custom.
A while back I got a cab to Christchurch airport but we got stuck in a jam due to an accident and I was 5 minutes late for my check in.Despite the plane not being full,I was still charged me full fare to catch a later flight.They don't care,as it is a monopoly.
They took my money for the first flight and flew with my seat empty.
Now there are no flights to Sydney from Dunedin,which means a flight to Auckland,Welington or Christchurch first.
You are completely wrong and I don't want to read your rubbish.
AirNZ are not a successful company. They have been bailed out by the government multiple times(us taxpayers).
I do try and support airNZ.
Also the rest of what you wrote is incorrect.
Misinforming the genearal public like you have is not helpful and down right wrong.
I will still support the poorly managed airNZ though because i am kiwi and we do need a national airline.
Grant.
P.S : please don't respond because dumb people like you will drag NZ down.
What you have said is not true on multiple levels.
The NZ taxpayers via the government have bailed out airNZ multiple times.
AirNZ has been poorly managed in the past and I hope they improve in future.
The service up to 2 years ago was 3rd world, especially for the provinces.
I will still fly airNZ though because I am a kiwi and we need a national airline.
This company would have been bankrupt if it wasn't for previous government action.
Grant.
Thank you to the person from Palmy who has pointed out a few facts and I agree with you - even though some of you seem to have great difficulty facing up to those facts. The next person (title - Supporting because it's Kiwi or of value) says - I agree they do provide regularity of service but do they provide value? I live in Napier, and my answer to you is that they do provide both regularity and value. I fly often between Napier and Auckland. Just tonight I purchased on the Air New Zealand web site a trip to Auckland and back for $168 total. I think that's pretty good. And on some occasions I have even paid quite a lot less than that when I have purchased tickets on Air New Zealand Grab-A-Seat. So the answer is, yes they do definitely provide good value. I would rather have the great service we have now (a flight from Napier to Auckland almost every hour) supplied by a great New Zealand company, than have a foreign company like Pacific Blue come in and wreck that, resulting in two operators fighting a price war and ultimately both losing money and struggling to survive - and having Air New Zealand employees lose their jobs in the process. And "Red Dog" really shows that he or she is writing total rubbish, by saying " I loved it when Air Nelson was operating, and I would always use it instead of Air New Zealand". Just to enlighten you, Air Nelson is still operating - it is part of Air New Zealand (called Air New Zealand Link) and operates virtually all the flights between Napier and Auckland - and many other Air New Zealand routes throughout New Zealand.
Grant, you are straying a long way from the truth. About eight years ago when Air New Zealand sufferred a double blow - the downturn in the airline industry caused by 9/11, and the faulure of what turned out to be a bad purchase of an airline in Australia (Ansett)the New Zealand government put money into Air New Zealand to stop it failing and to avoid the catastrophic effects on the country that the failure of Air New Zealand would have brought.But in return for that money, it now owns shares in Air New Zealand, and I believe that if the government were to sell those shares they would get their money back and some more too. What are the MULTIPLE bailouts you refer to?
You are talking rubbish.
Air Nelson used to be an independently owned company owned by the Inglis Family of Nelson,and as I recall,a prominent mortgage broker took a stake.
If it is now owned by Air NZ it is no longer Air Nelson owned by the Inglis Family of Nelson and a prominent mortgage broker.
Different ownership means a different culture.
It doesn't seem like you know much about corporate takeovers and restructures.
Where have you been for the last 25 years ?
I was an Air NZ employee when the Govt bailed them out. Air NZ was playing monopoly with Ansett Australia. Management had no more loyalty to NZ than they did to Australia. They were fixated on becoming a global player. In my experience Air NZ treated their own staff with contempt much less their customers. It shows too because when an organisation don't value their staff, staff don't value their customers. The simple answer to why don't kiwis support their own airline is that when Air NZ had a monopoly situation they did not value their customers. Services are offered on a cynical basis of providing just the bare minimum to keep out competition. Congratulations Adrian Hamilton Manns. Pacific Blue still has a fight ahead but somebody had to take out the bully in the room.
Origin Pacific Airways Limited[In Liquidation]
A great Airline to fly on.
Another great Nelson airline.
Air NZ forced them out of business.
I don't suppose in Napier you would ever have heard of them.
Some of us live on the main Island.
I know that monopolies breed laziness.
My understanding is that the NZ government(us), did step in and help out before the last cash injection through share buying.
Also we are in another recession right now and the government is once again pumping alot of cash into airNZ(mostly indirectly). 250million.
Aren't there a whole lot of free flights being given to austalians right now?
It could be classified as marketing expense, but it is marketing being paid by the government(public) to prop up some deficient managers. a good decent and true bussiness will withsatand ups and downs without public money being pumped in directly or indirectly.
twist it around antway you want. So will I.
Am surprised the governement hasn't banned competition to airNZ, but am sure thay are putting some hidden barriers in to stop competition.
We don't have a big enough population and that is part of the problem.
One man did try and start a budget airline flying out of Hamilton years ago and he was blocked. The Greek guy in Europe who started 'easyjet' couldn't get a loan in England but got one in Holland. NZ is very constraining for business and due to a small population it is easy to block people/other companies.
AirNZ needs to think smarter and not rest on there laurels.
On recent flights to Aussie I got great service from the cabin crew.
They had protest signs on their uniforms,and for good reason.
Thanks Red Dog and I say so with the greatest of respect to the boys and girls at Air NZ who are royally screwed themselves. The dead wood in Air NZ is at management level, having inherited a in effect a privatised Government Department, flair and initiative were dirty words to lack lustre middle management who got their jobs by chair polishing and ingratiating behaviour.
After Air NZ I worked for a few years catering airlines and when I went on Pacific Blue aircraft their crews were bright and optimistic. Even the Qantas cabin crew were perky and happy, but the Air NZ cabin crews were dressed in drab clothes (which they loathed) They always seemed pessimistic and constrained. You could feel the vibes.
I met Ewan Wilson of Kiwi Air International. He was the tall poppy spoken of earlier and I remind that anonymous poster that Air NZ sank $30 million into getting rid of him and cynically created Freedom Air for the sole purpose of driving Ewan Wilson out of business. Then when he was gone Freedom Air reduced services for Dunedin, Palmy and Hamilton and finally the airline itself was wound up. Everything Air NZ does is done with cynicism.
That's why Kiwis don't support their own airline.
What is the notion that we need to support Air NZ? They are a company just like evryone else. They need to earn my business. Just because they employ thoussands of kiwis dosn't mean I have to fly them.
They way they are treating ZEAL crew makes me want to fly them even less.
I work for Air New Zealand and like thousands of others am proud to work for a great company. And by the way we do get lots of compliments by letter or email from New Zealanders and people from around the world. But lets clear up a couple of things. Grant, that is simply not true to say that the government is "pumping cash into Air New Zealand right now" ($250 million you say) - Air New Zealand is working hard to battle it's way through this recession and is doing better than most airlines throughout the world. And that is backed up by commentators who analyse the worldwide airline industry. And Simon - I guess that you are one of the people who thinks that competition is great, but if Air New Zealand decides to compete with a competitor then all of a sudden you don't like competition any more. Yes Air New Zealand (through subsidiary Freedom Air) did compete with Kiwi Air. But to say that when Kiwi Air disappeared Freedom Air reduced services and closed down - that is rubbish. For a lot of years after Kiwi Air had gone, Freedom Air kept flying and increasing services. The reduction of services and eventual closure was quite a few years later due to market conditions which had changed radically.
Forget the tall poppy rubbish, Air NZ clearly has a monopoly on regional routes. Living in the South Island, flying to Napier costs more than going to Australia,this is a FACT.It is also cheaper to fly to Auckland hire a car and drive .Plus the ATRs are rubbish, cramped no reclining seats sub standard air conditioning etc .Bring on the competition, and lets hope this time Air NZ does not run a loss leader in the short term to get rid of a competitor.If their was a choice I would not fly anywhere with Air NZ , if they were so concerned about their customers they would not be price gouging. Rob, take note their will be an exodus, customer loyalty on regional routes is non existent, stop ripping the customer off.
Now that "Get Real" has written here, maybe we have had most of the tall poppy society's "let's target Air New Zealand" branch write in. Like some other's who have written in here, I think Air New Zealand is providing a great service to provincial New Zealand, and has some great fares available. A few days ago, I booked Christchurch to Napier and back for my wife and I and it was $128 each way per person. In my opinion, that's pretty good.
Actually Ian Air NZ only ever decides to compete when it feels threatened. It never proactively provides services that people need.
Air NZ's attitude to competition is cynical and disingenuous and insincere. You can fool some of the people some of the time....
I have no objection to Air New Zealand competing Ian even if your comment is an oxymoron. What I object to is Air NZ doing nothing for the people of NZ until it's turf is threatened and then when the threat has gone reverting to being the same big dumb fat bully it was previously.
Your own comments are disingenuous Ian. Freedom Air was set up in great haste and only for one purpose. After Kiwi Air disappeared they were only kept around to prevent anyone else stepping into the vacumn.
Ewan Wilson tried twice to establish new airlines in Australia, called K2000 and CPA to revive those routes. Freedom Air was kept on expressly to prevent a revival of Kiwi Air and in no way as a favour to the people of Hamilton, Plalmy, or Dunedin, so please Ian dont treat us as if we are all dumb, or ignorant...
You must mistake us for one of Air NZ's passengers ?
Simon says "Air New Zealand never proactively provides services that people need" If that were true, how is it that in the recent past Air New Zealand started quite a lot of new routes not operated by any other airline, and in many cases not likely to be. But they are services that people want or need. I refer to
DOMESTIC
Tauranga to Christchurch (new non-stop route)
New Plymouth to Christchurch (new non-stop route)
Invercargill to Wellington (new non-stop route)
Wanganui to Wellington (new route)
Oamaru to Christchurch (new toute)
Wanaka to Christchurch (new route)
Masterton to Auckland (new route)
INTERNATIONAL
Auckland to Vancouver (new route)
Auckland to Beijing (new route)
Auckland to Nuie (new route)
So it seems obvious that you are deliberately ignoring the real facts Simon
totally agree with grant, my experience with air nz is not good...my daughter works in wanganui wanted to come to hamilton for her sisters birthday...only flight air nz $460 return, bloody ripoff..she took the bus for under $100 return. they have had a monopoly on usa routes since usa carriers pulled out.i now fly via asia to LA for same price...afterall an airline that can fly into erebus and blame it on the pilot...chnge your name to air ripp off....welcome in ryanair....
ANZ is total rubbish. I have pages of complaints on file in one instance I wrote to the customer services officer twice, no reply then to the CEO twice no reply the only way I could get action was to threaten to turn up at a share holders meeting to air my grievances. Finished up with me taking them to court.
On a recent business class flight to Perth the seat did not recline properly, the in flight entertainment was pre 1980 and on the return leg Perth to Auckland the catering had been loaded in Aucland. Great I wonder what it was like in economy. Being nationalistic is on thing , supporting sub standard is another. I wonder how nationalistic ANZ are shifting thier servicing off shore.
I have flown with both Air NZ and Pacific Blue.
I found the fare first of all more expensive in all cases when flying with Air NZ. They say they are a full service airline... Flying on any domestic route you are provided with sub standard "coffee" and some of the worst service I have ever experienced from an airline. The aircraft they use are older, less environmentally friendly I am told, and more prone to breaking down than the competition Pacific Blue.
The amount of times I see something in the news regarding Air NZ treating their flight attendants like nothing more than someone who feeds passengers is becoming ridiculous. Cabin crew should be highly regarded as they are trained professionals who do a lot more than just provide a meal in flight. They are there ultimately to provide safety to all the people who are travelling on the aircraft, and Im sure they take their jobs very seriously! Shame on you Air NZ.
I will now fly Pacific Blue on any flight where they operate as I find them far superior to Air NZ in every way.
I wish Pacific Blue all the best! Forget where their roots come from, they are bringing competition to NZ which should have happened a long time ago!
Any airline that wishes to come Palmerston North and offer low fares will be WELCOMED.
The fares are not cheap here any more and the people that think it is are crazy $300 or even $100 each way is NOT cheap, has anyone ever considered the amount of students we have here and not all of us rely on parents for these flight this money could be our weeks wages that we have to spend to actually go and see our family. Bring on Pacific Blue and the great service no ones dissing Air NZ. So HUSH all you Air NZ lovers & shareholders there is nothing wrong with variety, competition and diversity and CHEAPER AIRFARES.
Wonderful news, bring it on guys. It is about time air NZ was put in it's place once and for all. Napier would benefit from a 2nd airline - lower air fares mean more people would travel.
After reading some of the comments on here about Air New Zealand and how some reckon that they can do no wrong, well i have to disagree. In Febuary 2008, after Hamilton Intl. spent $15 million upgrading its terminal, Air New Zealand pulled out its international services from Hamilton thier excuse "Passenger numbers were too low". After looking at the price of flying from Hamilton as aposed to Auckland, and the vigorus marketing campaign to fly from Auckland, im not suprised. Air NZ has been trying to stream all international flights from Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch for the past few years. Now that Pacific Blue has announced that it will be flying internationally from Hamilton AND offering competitive fares as the ones being offered out of Auckland, they are showing that they support the reigion...Something Air New Zealand wont do unless, as someone said, they feel their turf is being threatened.
It was Febuary 2009, not 2008. My Appologies. As for the idea of a NZ owned airline, like Kiwi Airlines, i would be the first to support it. I hate the thought that NZ is saturated with Australian businesses, and that all the profit goes to offshore, as aposed to back into our own economy. Bring back Kiwi Airlines, Bring Back Ewan Wilson.
Its ridiculous,There is not one fare on air new zealand for $79 until June Next year.Invercargill is far by the best place for another airline.Air new zealand has their Turbo prop ATR-72 operating between IVC-CHC and an occasional IVC-WLG ATR aswell.Is there any ATR's in Hawkes bay??New Plymouth??? Nelson?? NO.They only get the Q300 because of lack of passenger numbers and runway.Invercargill handels regular boeing 737-300 jets and can handle up to a Boeing 767.
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