Do you think Air NZ will run a summer sale?
 

Just curious. Do you think Air NZ will offer a summer sale this year? I am interested in booking flights for much later in the year just in case NZ does open its borders to fully vaccinated countries.

Don't think so.

What is the sale going to be for? There is bugger all international Pax flights at the moment on AirNZ. A lot of the flights are cargo only.

Also need a MIQ booking currently at the moment.

When there is a date for the Cooks & Aussie. Suspect the will be a sale then. May be a week after the flights start as they might as well get the people who want to travel the first week to pay full price.

Where to? And what would the purpose be?

We know NZ will have a 14 day quarantine in place until at least the end of 2021, with the Government still saying it'll be mid 2022 before our borders open up.

As for sales to Aussie or the Pacific Islands we don't even yet have a start date for a bubble (assuming it does actually become a thing) and even if it does happen why would they need to offer cheap fares? Demand will be so great you'll probably find every flight for the first few months literally sell out in minutes!

Add to this the fact Air NZ are still losing $1 - $2 million per day.. We've seen the impact of this on domestic fares with limited availability of cheaper booking classes and some not being offered at all.

Just looking at Air NZ pricing for later in 2021 is all crazy.. On all SFO / LAX flights every day it is cheaper to book PE than Y!

The Government keeps on shifting the goal posts so poor AIRNZ cannot make any forward plans. It also appears that the NZ vaccination plan is going to be well behind many other countries. Interesting looked at the Irish vaccination plan as population same size as here. Begins 12 Jan and is by group from most at risk down so the population already knows the plan and where they fit/timeframes. They will be well down the track before we have even started. Having been so successful at keeping the dammed virus at be would have thought a vaccine programme now would be the absolute priority.

They didn't have a Black Friday sale this year, so it seems unlikely that they will have a summer sale either at this point.

Yes I figured as much!

I hadn't read anything about the borders being shut until mid 2022, if anyone could provide a link, I'd appreciate it.

Two thing from media and statements struck me:

1. The PM answered a question regarding vaccinated foreigners visiting sans 14 days iso with “they wont be allowed in until after the ‘NZ population is safe from risk’ - presumably ‘safe’ meaning the NZ population is jabbed in sufficient numbers AND there is clarity whether a vaccinated person can be a virus carrier;

2. The PM and Hipkins both stated that the NZ vaccination programme wont start until mid2021, and will hopefully be complete by end Q1 2022.

Draw your own conclusions on border opening...

edited add: some info here of interest
https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/...ccine-planning

The government announced another big spend up of up to a few billion dollars as one of their last big announcements of this year. Part of this spend was to fully fund MIQ facilities until 30th June 2022.

Mid 2022 has been mentioned publically for a number of months now. Yes it would be great if things open up before then, and clearly anything could happen in that time, but right now that is the date NZ will open up.

https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA20...-june-2022.htm

Ireland????
 

Ireland 87000 cases and 2200 deaths. New Zealand 1800 cases and 25 deaths. Enough said.

Additionally NZ is waiting for trials to complete & the results to be collated. All the countries who have it currently are emergency orders skipping parts of the testing process. Additionally they are being deployed in small numbers often to only for medical staff, etc.

From what I have read it seems NZ starting later won't mean we get a later complete than the other countries. As come Q2 onwards the vaccine production will drawf the current amount of people getting vaccinated.

As to MIQ hanging around to 2022 is the big question we are still have is how long it give immunity for and how often people will need to get revaccinated, so need that to set the new rules.

Whenever I've seen articles mentioning MIQ being extended into mid 2022, I don't take that to be a blanket border closure until mid 2022. My guess is that once NZ reaches around 70% vaccinated, which will probably happen towards the very end of next year, we'll re-open borders to fully vaccinated countries like Japan/USA etc. But of course that's just a guess.

Looking forward to traveling to Cook Islands hopefully soon! :star:

It completely hinges around speed of roll out and carrier status post vaccination - the second point is starting to become clearer and looks variable with the different vaccines but should be settled end of 1st quarter 2021.

So if vaccinated and it prevents infection vs prevention of severity then there is no reason travel shouldn’t resume at an individual level post vaccination.

The problem is the government is playing a zero risk game and their presentation of the advice they are receiving is very slanted and they have been very careful to ask for advice or phrase their questions such they get the advice they want....... which isn’t the same as there being true expert consensus. But ultimately if the public want a zero risk game that’s what we will get.

But I cannot help myself in saying the Ireland vs NZ example as presented is superficial. We are in a good place - and that is something to be grateful for but this is super complicated and it has been painted as a simpleargument about “keeping it out” - unfortunately there will be a wider reckoning.

I'd be very surprised if 70% of the population will be vaccinated by then. I think there will be issues with younger people and those with no underlying health conditions voluntarily taking it until some of the longer term studies come out. Especially given how good we have it in NZ, most people wont see the need/point of it.

I am part of that age group and no one I know is nervous about taking it. Most of them want it to "get on" with life. But either way, I am well at peace with this time in NZ!