sbiddle

Which will never happen..The revenue loss (particularly on the Australian side as the taxes are higher there) is a key stumbling block here. Every few years somebody will talk about it again, and you can just about guarantee nothing will once again happen!

southpac

you're forgetting about the massive increase in international tourism. Whenever cheap fares come out, many people go, let's have a look & then some will return over & over again.

cavemanzk

It simply not cost effective to run 170 seater aircraft on low yielding 3-4hours Tasman routes from secondary regions, they would need to be near 80-90% to be able to break even. These secondary regions are lacking the corporate traffic, that helps cover costs ex-AKL,WLG,CHC for example someone will be paying $129 on an Y Seat, and another passenger on the same flight will be paying $399 for the exact same seat.

Just because there is customs staff at the local ports, doesn't mean that they are able to process passenger movements the majority of there job is working with cargo movements and not people. Then there is the hardware that is required to be installed at each airport, which too isnt cheap.

Cheap fares aren't profitable - $129 on the Tasman is pretty much loss making.

southpac

2ndary airports on one side of Tasman to primary airports on other can work. It's already been proven, but not when VA/NZ want everyone to pass thru AKL, CHC, WLG. Now the split has come about, things might change.

If TT ever goes "domestic" not all of the AUD$180 govt charges will disappear but a good chunk of them will.

2ndary airports have some corporate traffic.

Rebound

Virgin Australia @VirginAustralia
We’re upping our game across the Tasman, launching two new routes from Sydney-Wellington and Melbourne-Queenstown from 28 October. We'll also be increasing the frequency of our flights from Auckland to Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Flights go on sale from this Thursday.

cavemanzk

Gloves come off in battle for trans-Tasman travel | Newshub

Changes:
AKL-SYD 3x Daily
AKL-BNE 3x Daily
AKL-MEL 2x Daily

CHC-MEL Reduce to 1x Daily (currently 11x weekly)

WLG-SYD - 5x Weekly

ZQN-MEL - 4x Weekly

Expect we will start to see the very good deals on the Tasman post October (Until someone pulls back)

mmonster

yep, saw that too and thinking too that it would be interesting in terms of pricing, but it would be ok-ish if neither gave way as it is almost time for peak season. I would be focusing on BNE if I am VA as it is their hub. NZ do not have much ground there IMHO unless if transferring from North or South Americas. NZ should focus on SYD which they have with 5x daily on wide-body air craft. I know other markets WLG/CHC/ZQN are also important but then you do win some and lose some so best not to be too greedy.

Not that VA's J product is appealing, would it be possible for NZ to open up the hope to bring back J on A321s? QF and VA has similar design and I never liked it

nzkarit

I'm pretty sure they are sticking with all Y on the NEOs. They want to keep the A320NEOs and the A321NEOs the same, so equipment swaps are easy, with no down grades. So they can move the A321s around to meet the relevant demands particularly when there are events in particular cities.

Also with the A321s coming most likely later this year, will make decisions to say drop Wlg-Syd to 1 daily easier as can still offer 1 or 1.5ish capacity as needed without changing the schedule or doing extras.

Haven't seen the 737 Max plans for QF or VA and will be interesting if they get a mixture of 8s and 10s, so they can offer more subtle TT options. Think the indications are they will stay with 737.

NZbutterfly

mmonster

Exactly, I do not think this route attracts this much demand, of course it was a different story with the Commonwealth Games the past two weeks, I was thinking that its VA's hub so it is logical for them to focus on this. NZ would rather fly their pax on QF from SYD/MEL to other destinations in Oz then routing them to BNE. The 77W in the morning is mainly for connections from the States so they can have a consistent J product...

Mwenenzi

Over the last few months the TT options have changed.
QF & EK rejigged schedules/aircraft, with EK now only flying SYD-CHC (A380). QF added more A330's TT.
By the start of the 2018 summer will be different again

Airlines that fly Australia (CNS* MCY* BNE OOL SYD CBR MEL ADL PER) to/from New Zealand (AKL WLG CHC DUD ZQN) (not from all airports to all airports).

• Air Asia D7 (OOL - AKL)
• Air New Zealand NZ Codeshares with VA. [Star Alliance] {* winter seasonal}
• China Airlines CI (BNE SYD MEL** – AKL CHC**) [Skyteam Alliance] {** November to end March}
• Emirates EK (SYD – CHC) Codeshares with QF. EK will only fly SYD-CHC from 25 March 2018.
• Jetstar JQ (owned by QF)
• LAN LA (SYD AKL) [OneWorld Alliance]
• Philippines PR (CNS - AKL) Withdrew from route 06 Dec 2017
• Qantas QF Codeshares with EK. [OneWorld Alliance]
• Singapore SQ (CBR-WLG) [Star Alliance]WLG CBR to be replaced by WLG MEL from 04 May 2018
• Virgin Australia VA Codeshares with Air NZ & AC*. (Delta & AC** partner) [*= some routes in 2017, ** ffp late 2017]

southpac

https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/p...k-brisbane-say

henrus

FYI VA marketed and operated Australian domestic flights should appear on the Air New Zealand website for booking after the split sometime on Wednesday.

Obviously, all the NZ7000 codeshare flights are gone but you will be able to book it on the one ticket and on the Air NZ website.

Here is a list of the destinations that will be "bookable" with a VA flight number

https://p-airnz.com/cms/assets/NZ-Ag...om_28Oct18.pdf

The 4 destinations with a QF flight number will remain
https://p-airnz.com/cms/assets/NZ-Ag...-21-Aug-17.pdf

NZbutterfly

Nice, thanks for that. I'm wondering if we can change our FF # from Air NZ to VA for the domestic part of the trip and still earn. Instead of earning 2APD and zero SP, we'll now earn zilch on the domestic VA leg! At least that's the way I interpret the split although I don't think details are out yet. I'd rather be able to earn something on the VA leg. Same with QF. Otherwise flying QF the whole way through and earning on both legs is much more appealing.

I really do hope they allow a change of FF # to allow for VA domestic sc and points earn (although the points earn will possibly be a bit measly).

henrus

Well you can for the four QF routes so I see why they won't allow it. That being said there are suggestions that some perks may still apply after the split so potentially people will end up leaving there NZ number in the bookings.

However, Provided you've got both status with VA and NZ or status with SQ then you'd get perks all the way through on both NZ trans tasman and VA domestic flights.

It's worth noting that there are now more options with the VA marketed services then there currently area. An example of this is AKL-PER-BNE (crazy route anyway) isn't a valid routing on NZ7000 numbers but under the VA marketed services deal it will be a valid route. I guess the point I'm trying to make is people are less restricted by flight options and transfer points.