Pacific Blue Abandons New Zealand Domestic Services

Pacific Blue has announced that it is to exit its New Zealand domestic operations as part of a wider review of its network. Pacific Blue’s New Zealand domestic network currently includes Christchurch, Dunedin, Queenstown and Auckland, with 106 flights a week, including twice daily services from Christchurch to Wellington and Christchurch to Auckland. The airline will also boost trans-Tasman services and generally increase its Australian services to South East Asia and the Pacific Islands.

Virgin Blue Group of Airlines’ chief executive, John Borghetti, said the ongoing network review was aimed at delivering increased competition and capturing growth opportunities. According to Air New Zealand’s Group General Manager Australasia, Bruce Parton, Pacific Blue contacted Air New Zealand to see if Air New Zealand would carry the thousands of passengers disrupted by Pacific Blue’s withdrawal of domestic services, which Air New Zealand will do. Passengers will be able to rebook onto Air New Zealand services as close to their currently booked departure time as possible.

In explanation of the moves, Borghetti said Pacific Blue was adding capacity to routes with strong revenue potential and, accordingly, removing capacity from services that are underperforming. Pacific Blue will cease flying New Zealand domestic routes and redeploy two New Zealand-based 180-seat Boeing 737-800 aircraft onto trans-Tasman and medium-haul international routes.

Borghetti said that customers holding forward bookings on New Zealand domestic routes from 18 October onwards will be provided with re-accommodation and refund options. Pacific Blue currently employs around 450 New Zealanders at crew bases in Christchurch and Auckland, and its head office in Christchurch, and the increase in international flying means up to 100 new jobs would be created.

Separately, Pacific Blue and Air New Zealand have proposed an alliance on trans-Tasman services. Both airlines operate across the Tasman and have applied to regulators to combine their networks to compete better against Qantas and Jetstar.

The key route and frequency changes are that from September 17, Dunedin–Brisbane services will increase from three to four flights a week, while from October 31, the Christchurch–Melbourne route will increase from four flights per week to a daily service.