Latest / Best of Business / Cath O'Brien: Board of Airline Representatives NZ executive director on Air New Zealand cutting 1100 flights

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Cath O'Brien: Board of Airline Representatives NZ executive director on Air New Zealand cutting 1100 flights · Best of Business

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  Speaker 2: And on that subject, Regional mayors are worrying after news
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  Speaker 2: that Air New Zealand is cutting one one hundred flights
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  Speaker 2: because of the spike and the jet fuel prices. No
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  Speaker 2: routes themselves have been cut yet, but some will not
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  Speaker 2: get as many flights as they do at the moment.
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  Speaker 2: Kath O'Brien is the executive director of the Board of
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  Speaker 2: Airline Representatives and with US High cath Hi Heather, Now,
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  Speaker 2: what's worrying the mayors is the possibility that any flights
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  Speaker 2: that are cut will not be restored. Do you think
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  Speaker 2: that they are right to be worried?
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  Speaker 3: Look, I think what I understand from a New Zealand
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  Speaker 3: is that this is a temporary response to what we
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  Speaker 3: all hope is a temporary extreme spike and jet fuel prices.
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  Speaker 3: So I think that at this stage we're just looking
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  Speaker 3: at a temporary response.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, Craig's investment, When does it not become a temporary response?
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  Speaker 3: Cath Well, I think Shane has similar concerns, right. Master
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  Speaker 3: Jones has got the same question, and I think you know, unfortunately,
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  Speaker 3: airlines are very familiar with jet fuel allocation when we
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  Speaker 3: have jet fuel shortage, and we have responded to those
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  Speaker 3: situations in the past recent years, and so I hope
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  Speaker 3: that we don't find ourselves in that position, but if
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  Speaker 3: we do, you know, there'll be more trouble at Melon.
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  Speaker 2: Okay. Craig's investment partner says they can't understand why flights
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  Speaker 2: are being cut given that aircraft are eighty five percent full.
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  Speaker 3: I think that my understanding is that the flights that
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  Speaker 3: have been consolidated, which means that you know, essentially they're
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  Speaker 3: moving two into one, that sort of thing off peak services,
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  Speaker 3: so they will not be eighty five percent full. And
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  Speaker 3: also if they were, you'd have a whole huge number
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  Speaker 3: of customers unable to travel because if you try to
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  Speaker 3: join two into one and they were both full, then
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  Speaker 3: they wouldn't work, right. So I don't think that's the case.
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  Speaker 3: I think we're talking about off peak services that are
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  Speaker 3: already you know, not particularly well patronized, and then those
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  Speaker 3: are being consolidated where they can be to essentially be
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  Speaker 3: really efficient with a really expensive product.
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  Speaker 2: Is Jetstar do you think likely to do the same
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  Speaker 2: thing or not because they have so few flights already.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, they've got a totally different network in New Zealander
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  Speaker 3: is operating a regional network that goes much greater geographic
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  Speaker 3: distance to many more ports, and they have a wholly
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  Speaker 3: different problem than Jetstar, which is operating trunk services using
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  Speaker 3: jets only.
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  Speaker 2: Kath, it's good to talk to you always as Kath O'Brien,
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  Speaker 2: Board of Airline Representatives, executive director.
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