Air New Zealand - New Trans-Tasman and Pacific Island Structures

[kamchatsky]

Air NZ to cut Tasman, Pacific fares

From press releases:

For more than a year we have had a team gaining a better understanding of what customers want from Air New Zealand when flying to/from Australia and the Pacific Islands.

The key finding has been ‘Choice’ – they want to be able to choose how they fly.

Today Air New Zealand is pleased to launch our new Australia and Pacific Islands service/product offering for sales from 29 April 2010 ex Christchurch to Sydney then progressively introduced on other Australian and Pacific Island routes.

We have developed four new products for your customers to choose between and for you to sell to your customers and outline the benefits of these to them:

1. Seat only
2. Seat + Bag
3. The Works (plus a “Kids Works” option)
4. Works Deluxe

The table below outlines what you will receive under each product purchased:

Seat
- Seat
- 1 carry-on bag (7kg)
- Entertainment:TV, music, games
- Tea, coffee and water

Seat+Bag
- Seat
- 1 carry-on bag (7kg)
-1 checked bag (23kg)
-Entertainment:TV, music, games
-Tea, coffee and water

The Works
- Seat
- 1 carry-on bag (7kg)
- 1 checked bag (23kg)
- Seat Request
- Entertainment:TV, music, games and movies
- Tea, coffee and water
- A meal and drinks

Works Deluxe
- Seat
- 1 carry-on bag (7kg)
- 2 priority checked bags (23kg each)
- Premium check-in
- Seat request
- Lounge access
- Entertainment: TV, music, games and movies
- Tea, coffee and water
- A meal and drinks
- Neighbour-free guarantee

A Kids Works product will be available offering a kids meal, drink and activity pack.

The above options will be available on all A320 aircraft operating Tasman and Pacific Island routes.

On 767, 747 and 777 aircraft operating Tasman and Pacific Island routes, these options will be available however Business class replaces Works Deluxe.

Due to the above changes, our A320 aircraft will be re-configured to full economy class with 171 seats per aircraft – offering a 30-32” seat pitch.

These reconfigurations will be progressively made between October and December.

Please note Auckland-Perth v.v, Auckland-Tahiti v.v and Sydney-Rarotonga v.v services will not have these choices available – service is as per today.

Below outlines the timings for when this new product offering will be available for sales and travel. Fares and fare rules will be available mid April.

29 April Christchurch-Sydney on sale
18 August Travel from Christchurch-Sydney
Early September Sales on all other Aussie & Pacific Island markets
Late November Travel from all other markets

In addition to the above 4 product choices we will also be offering the following:

o In-flight bites menu – customers will be able to swipe their credit card from their seat via our in-flight entertainment system & order from the ‘in-flight bites menu’ – this will then be delivered to them by the crew.
o Pick & Mix – customers can choose a different product offering in each direction.
o Kid’s packs and meals are available when purchasing a Works fare.

Air New Zealand announced today a transformation of its trans-Tasman and Pacific Island services commencing later this year.

Air New Zealand Group General Manager Short Haul Airline Bruce Parton says Air New Zealand will be introducing a range of exciting developments, setting a new benchmark in terms of competitive pricing, choice and the airport experience.

“The Tasman is one of the most fiercely competitive airline markets in the world, with eight airlines competing for the 5.8 million passengers who fly between Australia and New Zealand each year,” says Mr Parton.

Air New Zealand has a market share of 2.1 million of these passengers and plans to maintain this.

Furthermore, the airline carries more than half a million passengers to and from the Pacific Islands annually.

“For more than a year, we have had a team gaining a better understanding of what customers want in these highly competitive markets and the innovative changes we are going to introduce are based on what they have been telling us,” says Mr Parton.

The trans-Tasman and Pacific Island transformation will include:
• Cutting the price of Air New Zealand’s lead-in fares.
• Reducing the airport waiting time by an average of 45 minutes when new kiosks and a streamlined check-in process are introduced.
• Introducing a new way in which airfares are sold to provide more choice than ever for customers.
• Standardisation of the Airbus A320 Tasman Pacific fleet to one class with 171 seats.

Mr Parton says Christchurch will be the first market to receive the new product offering, with fares on sale from 29 April for travel late-August, before it goes on sale network-wide in early September with travel rolling out from late-November

“Closer to launch time we will be revealing how much we will be slashing the cost of travel, but it would be fair to say the savings on lead-in fares would buy an extra night’s accommodation for a family of four on their holiday to the Gold Coast.”

Air New Zealand has the largest capacity share of any airline on the trans-Tasman market, with 280 flights per week and 72 Pacific Island flights each week.

“With our high frequency of flights across the Tasman and to the Pacific Islands, Air New Zealand is the airline of choice for the majority of both business and leisure travellers departing New Zealand,” says Mr Parton.

“Unfortunately, demand for business class seats out of Wellington and Christchurch has been diminishing to the point where just one of the eight seats is being sold on average per flight. This is predominantly due to companies and Government departments in these cities cutting back on spending and adopting a policy of economy class travel, which underpins the rationale for standardising the A320 fleet in one class configuration.

“Business class will still be available out of Auckland on wide body aircraft flights at prime times that meet the needs of corporate travellers and those Business Premier customers connecting with our long haul services.”

Air New Zealand was recently awarded the Air Transport World Airline of the Year Award, with the judging panel praising Air New Zealand’s innovation and agility to deliver effective customer solutions.

 

[kamchatsky]

Further more, they are introducing international checkin kiosks:

Due to the success of our domestic check-in kiosks we are now pleased to announce a version of these will be available in New Zealand for passengers travelling to Australia only.

These kiosks will help streamline the check-in process and reduce the amount of time needed at the airport for customers to check in for their flights.

The kiosks will be progressively introduced from June for travel to Australia:.
AKL international kiosk – operating from June 2010
WLG international kiosk – operating from June 2010
ZQN international kiosk – operating from July 2010
CHC international kiosk – operating from January 2011

These kiosks will be available for point to point Air New Zealand services plus customers who have interline connections within Australia.

The kiosks will read all passports with a machine readable zone (MRZ), this includes older ones with the machine readable zones.

Due to the introduction of kiosks mid year, the Tasman baggage allowance will be changing effective for travel from 26 May 2010, the change being from weight to piece system.. Further information will be provided in due course outlining additional bag costs and permitted weight per piece.

 

[tuppaware]

Sorry to be blunt. But thats lame.

I want to book an airfare not a happy meal. By choice - means removing extras and charging them.

 

[samh004]

As long as all fares are still earning, it’s not a bad decision. Certainly a much better product than offered by JQ.

 

[trooper]

NZ regulars can understand WHY J is being removed from the 320.. It wasn't a great product (42" pitch) so didn't sell well... but some have expressed concerns about the effect on all the other status perks.. and I share that concern.

Space + is obviously going on the 320, and will presumably be SOLD on the 767/777/747.. and IMO that just sucks. It was only introduced relatively recently.. to great fanfare - as a perk of status.....

What now for elites?

Many details still to come of course but I think it is going to reduce the NZ experience quite a bit! Especially for those of us who HAVE to fly TT to join an NZ longhaul flight...

Looks like QF will get some extra money from me as I fly to BNE/MEL to get a widebody TT flight!

 

[kamchatsky]

But if you are flying TT to connect to Trans-Pacific flight, surely you would go to AKL and thus can still access J on their 747/767/777 (assuming you are based in SYD/MEL/BNE/PER)?

But yes it is a shame that they are getting rid of J for A320s. I actually enjoyed them even though it was only 42". It means a lot of reductions of *A J redemption opportunities for TT and Pacific flights!

Looks like I will be redeeming Pacific *A J awards much less. Maybe Y if going thru AKL to Pacific Islands.

What it could mean is that they are really struggling to make a profit.

I can see a lot of people would go back to Qantas, or even go to Emirates.

 

[trooper]

When I book SYD-AKL-LAX it is almost always a 320 for the TT...... thats what I meant....

Will take some tweaking to get a 763 ... and the layovers might be excessive....

Of course it all remains very much.. "We'll see"!

 

[samh004]

I can see a lot of people would go back to Qantas, or even go to Emirates.

Problem is, some routes to New Zealand seem to be changing to JQ, instead of QF, so in those cases NZ is a much better option, maybe even Pacific Blue too.

 

[kamchatsky]

Problem is, some routes to New Zealand seem to be changing to JQ, instead of QF, so in those cases NZ is a much better option, maybe even Pacific Blue too.

I thought QF still have flights to WLG/CHC from major Australian cities? Or are they changing it?

 

[anat0l]

..."I'll take my airfare please...with fries to go"

It'll be interesting to see what the new price points are for each of the options compared to now which has J tickets thrown into the mix.

I'm also curious to see what this will mean for *G / NZ G / NZ GE.

And....let's see.....

“Closer to launch time we will be revealing how much we will be slashing the cost of travel, but it would be fair to say the savings on lead-in fares would buy an extra night’s accommodation for a family of four on their holiday to the Gold Coast.”

Say it costs $180 for a night at a room for a family of four (2 parents and 2 kids). That's $45 less per ticket. That's quite a lot (IIRC that's greater than the differential between the current cheapest (non-GAS) fares and LCC fares).

 

[samh004]

I thought QF still have flights to WLG/CHC from major Australian cities? Or are they changing it?

According to the Qantas route maps:

SYD seems to have a direct flight to CHC, while BNE, OOL and MEL all seem to be JQ.

MEL to WEL seems to be QF, but from SYD is again JQ.

Last year it was simply JetConnect!

 

[haydensydney]

Not happy Jan.

I may be in the minority, but I really enjoyed the exclusive feel to the A320 J cabin. I have flown many legs on the A320 in J and it will be missed. Sure - it had a coughpy pitch, but it was still business class and the NZ J service as always was amazing. As I originally come from Wellington, my business class options are quickly diminishing - QF will soon be the only airline offering J from WLG. Poo.

*A J awards to the south pacific will soon be rather unattractive if the SYD-AKL leg will be in Y.

I am happy that the 763 and other birds will retain the J product on TT, but out of SYD the majority of flights are A320 or 763, with the odd 777 if your lucky.

Not impressed at all, but I must confess that the majority of my NZ flights have been via *A awards through SQ, so I haven't been the biggest revenue customer NZ has seen.

 

[dajop]

Not happy Jan.
*A J awards to the south pacific will soon be rather unattractive if the SYD-AKL leg will be in Y.

Actually, other than AKL-PPT, this covers south pacific as well. So you may well get the SYD-AKL sector in J, but the rest will be in Y. Effectively this is the death of the south pacific J awards.

 

[StevePER]

Actually, other than AKL-PPT, this covers south pacific as well. So you may well get the SYD-AKL sector in J, but the rest will be in Y. Effectively this is the death of the south pacific J awards.

RAR is available on the 763 and 772 isn't it?

 

[kamchatsky]

Not happy Jan.

I may be in the minority, but I really enjoyed the exclusive feel to the A320 J cabin. I have flown many legs on the A320 in J and it will be missed. Sure - it had a coughpy pitch, but it was still business class and the NZ J service as always was amazing. As I originally come from Wellington, my business class options are quickly diminishing - QF will soon be the only airline offering J from WLG. Poo.

*A J awards to the south pacific will soon be rather unattractive if the SYD-AKL leg will be in Y.

I am happy that the 763 and other birds will retain the J product on TT, but out of SYD the majority of flights are A320 or 763, with the odd 777 if your lucky.

Not impressed at all, but I must confess that the majority of my NZ flights have been via *A awards through SQ, so I haven't been the biggest revenue customer NZ has seen.

+1 on your comments on J on A320. I will also miss it!

I am surprised that it is also cut from WLG, especially with it being at centre of the politicans ....
Y *A Pacific Award is still not bad if going to Pacific Islands. However I don't know whether your will get seat only for the redemption flights, or it will at least include a meal.

 

[kamchatsky]

Actually, other than AKL-PPT, this covers south pacific as well. So you may well get the SYD-AKL sector in J, but the rest will be in Y. Effectively this is the death of the south pacific J awards.

I thought AKL-NAN is sometimes operated on 767/777?

But yes, *A J awards is pretty much dead, except very few routes. It was fantastic whilst it lasted.

 

[haydensydney]

OK I'm confused:

Please note Auckland-Perth v.v, Auckland-Tahiti v.v and Sydney-Rarotonga v.v services will not have these choices available – service is as per today.

I know that RAR has A320 services, but Perth & Taihiti are 767's. Therefore, does that mean that the RAR A320's will still have J?

In terms of the death of *A South Pacific awards, this is true. Does anyone else know of the next best bargain options for SQ points (be it *A or SQ)?

 

[anat0l]

I know that RAR has A320 services, but Perth & Taihiti are 767's. Therefore, does that mean that the RAR A320's will still have J?

Perhaps they will refit all A320s and change any routes that currently offer A320s but sell J service to other aircraft types that have J (or will retain J). For NZ, this would be any wide body.

That's my guess (so there will be some juggling of aircraft types about the network).

 

[dajop]

OK I'm confused:



I know that RAR has A320 services, but Perth & Taihiti are 767's. Therefore, does that mean that the RAR A320's will still have J?

It's actually only the once weekly SYD-RAR direct service that will have J class, it will be operated by 767's. It is beginning a four month trial operation in July. This is consistent, AKL-RAR are 320's and therefore will not have J. But it does mean that RAR and PPT will still be available in J, albeit with very limited options (and ergo limited availability).

 

[kamchatsky]

OK I'm confused:



I know that RAR has A320 services, but Perth & Taihiti are 767's. Therefore, does that mean that the RAR A320's will still have J?

In terms of the death of *A South Pacific awards, this is true. Does anyone else know of the next best bargain options for SQ points (be it *A or SQ)?

In terms of "bargains", you can always go to Tahiti. It is still on 767 (or 777) only. However they only have 2 flights per week.