UPDATED- Air NZ may cut some domestic and international routes - Fyfe

UPDATED: Christchurch International Airport (CIAL) chief executive Jim Boult has said he understands the reasoning behind Air New Zealand¹s decision to cancel or reschedule some of its trans-Tasman and domestic flights in the wake of the Christchurch earthquake.

Twenty-seven trans-Tasman flights have been cancelled between Christchurch and Sydney, Christchurch and Melbourne, and Christchurch and Coolangatta for several weeks from April to July 2011.

“While it’s disappointing to lose any services, we fully understand the position the airline is in,” Mr Boult said.

“The airline is also rescheduling many of the remaining trans-Tasman flights to Christchurch, which previously arrived in the late evening to now arrive in daylight hours.

“We welcome this move as it will be helpful for passengers wanting to transit to other centres and find accommodation outside Christchurch.”

Over the next three months, 73 flights between Sydney and Christchurch will have new departure and arrival times, as well as 54 flights from Brisbane and 62 flights from Melbourne.

“While Christchurch Airport is fully functional, the central city is just beginning its rebuilding work, and the accommodation capacity of the city has been seriously impacted,” Mr Boult said.

“However, there are still 6000 hotel and motel beds in Christchurch, and that number will only grow in the coming months.”

“Our focus remains on aeronautical business,” he said. “We still want to grow the services into Christchurch and to retain all the flights we have.” 

Air New Zealand chief executive Rob Fyfe says the airline may cut some domestic and international routes to recoup expected losses from the economic effects of the the earthquakes in Christchurch and Japan.

Speaking on radio today, Mr Fyfe was following up on the profit warning Air NZ issued yesterday. The company’s shares dropped more than 10% on that news that disasters would wipe out the airline’s second half profit. No statement has been made to the Stock Exchange yet on any route cuts.

Mr Fyfe told Radio NZ he was looking to cut costs, including routes and frequencies, to ensure capacity aligned with demand.

He told Newstalk ZB the airline had had a lot of international cancellations since the Christchurch earthquake and would be looking at the 1995 Kobe earthquake to see how it affected passenger loadings.

Mr Fyfe, who is in Japan to support staff, said the company was expecting passenger numbers on flights to and from Japan to drop by about 30 per cent, following the earthquakes.

Shares in Air New Zealand [AIR:NZX] were trading at $1.08 at 1pm.