Kiwis are paying significantly more for overseas flights as fuel and aviation costs climb, but demand for international travel remains resilient.
The latest Stats NZ figures showed the cost of international airfares had gone up annually by 21.5% in the year to August.
Aviation industry association chief executive Simon Wallace said the price of jet fuel from the Iran conflict has been the major driver.
"So it's nearly up where it was in March April this year. But that's double what it was in 2025," he said
However, Wallace said aviation system costs were also a factor.
"So things like civil aviation authority, levees, like air control or airways levees, and even airport landing charges, they've increased a lot more than the rate of inflation, and they are contributing factor to some of these increases as well," he said.
Flights to Europe and Asia recorded the biggest price hikes.
"A third of New Zealand travellers going to Europe will travel on Middle Eastern carriers like Etihad, Emirates, Qatar and their capacity has been impacted by the events in the Middle East since February-March," Wallace said.
Fuel costs and Middle East disruptions have pushed prices higher, but Kiwis are still travelling by finding savings elsewhere. (Source: 1News)
The price of flights hasn't stopped kiwis from travelling though, Stats NZ data showing that New Zealand-resident traveller arrivals hit 3.09 million in the year ending July - an increase of 32,000 from last year.
For the the month of July specifically, New Zealand-resident arrivals were 317,000 - 5000 less than the same time last year.
Travel agents association chief executive Julie White said Kiwis still had a healthy appetite to travel internationally, despite the uplift in flight prices.
"We're actually seeing our numbers back where they were in 2019. Our number in sales are actually up around 1.5% but we do see some softening in the number of transactions.
"So what that means is the people are actually looking for deals and they are starting to change the behaviour of where they're actually travelling to," she said.
She said people are becoming more interested in travel destinations like the Cook Islands and Rarotonga where there was more flight capacity and competition, which helps with prices.
Cutting other costs
White also pointed out that Kiwi travellers were finding other ways to cut costs once they land.
"They might actually just downgrade their hotel for example, they might normally stay at a five star hotel. They might start looking at a four star hotel or they might go to an apartment style."
1News spoke to some passengers at Auckland International Airport, who shared how they were keeping travel costs down.
A woman who was visiting her grandchildren said it was "pretty heartbreaking" that she could not see them as much as she would like.
While one man and a teenager, travelling to Australia for a football tournament, said that they had to cut costs by staying with family.
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