From the New Zealand Herald, good news if you’re a lover of Air New Zealand on the long haul routes from London to Los Angeles, Hong Kong and Auckland – they’re safe for now, but expect seasonal cuts.
Air New Zealand seem to be struggling to make London pay, but it seems everyone is still struggling – reason enough for Air New Zealand to bang about Kiwi service, and try and get backsides on seats. The likely outcome for Air New Zealand will be seasonally adjusted services – with less services at weaker times of the year, and maintaining services when demand exists.
Air New Zealand operates to London on a 1-stop strategy, calling at either Los Angeles International or Hong Kong International on the way – operating daily via LAX, and 5 times a week via HKG.
As everyone knows, it’s tough out there, and profits are thin on the ground thanks to rising oil prices and rising taxes. For Air New Zealand, this is pressing as Long Haul routes were loosing the airline more than NZ$1 million a week.
For those who love the Kiwi product, the only way to keep it in London is simple: Keep flying it. Whilst I haven’t been aboard an Air New Zealand flight (little things like money and a lack of time don’t help), the product looks good all around (except for the space cramming 3-4-3 seating down the back of the plane).
Less than daily frequencies are often quite a deterrent for business customers and those are the folks spending the big cash. It will be interesting to see if the limited schedule can do anything to stem the hemorrhaging of cash or if it just changes the reason it happens.