When a flight between international European cities such as London and Barcelona can be booked for less than $100, why does it often cost so much more to just hop around Aotearoa?
Breakfast this morning asked viewers for feedback on the cost of flying, and the responses indicated a trend of soaring prices. A trip from Dunedin to Palmerston North cost one traveller over $1000, while two adults and one child paid $2500 to fly to Queenstown from Auckland.
Air NZ's Chief Customer and Sales Officer Leanne Geraghty joined the programme to explain the heightened prices and how travellers can find more down-to-earth deals.
She said there are ranges of airfares available and that a variety of factors can influence ticket prices.
"When we form airfares, there are a lot of elements that go into that," she said. "That could be the aircraft type, it's demand, it's our cost base, [and] it's the duration of the flight."
She attributed higher domestic prices in Aotearoa to the heightened demand of flights that the Air New Zealand fleet cannot currently meet.
"The bigger the range we can offer, the more people that can travel... ultimately that comes back to capacity and we are working really hard to get our capacity at levels that will ease airfares," Geraghty said.
Air New Zealand is set to invest $3.5 billion in aircraft in the next period, Geraghty saying the new planes should help bring down prices, but cannot stop operational costs for the airline that are up 25% on pre-Covid levels.
Geraghty said Air New Zealand has ongoing sales and "more surprises" to come next month, and advises travellers to plan ahead and keep an eye on differences in flight costs, even if they're just hours apart.
"Book early, book when the sales are on, and be flexible with your travel plans."
Watch the full interview in the video above.
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