Air New Zealand has shelved plans to return to London for now. It also says long-haul routes are under review and cuts are looming later this year.
NZ’s ceo Nikhil Ravishankar told RNZ its ambitions to fly to London as early as next year are off, and that any return to the UK would depend on how long the fuel crisis lasted.
The airline warns of a $390 million loss this year and it will make a call on existing long-haul routes within weeks.
It has cut and consolidated regional, domestic and some short haul routes already. Ravishankar told RNZ NZ wanted to give customers warning about long haul flight cuts as early as possible.
The carrier’s North American routes are also under scrutiny. NZ flies to Los Angeles, Houston, San Francisco and New York in the US and Vancouver in Canada.
While there’s been speculation the fuel-hungry, and likely heavy loss-making, AKL-JFK route may be for the chop, Ravishankar stressed the importance of it to the airline’s new product proposition, its network and the country’s tourism strategy.
“It connects New Zealand to one of the wealthiest parts of the planet,’’ he says.
. . . ‘Call An Agent’
NZ is working with partner airlines in determining where they could co-operate more closely, the NZ ceo said.
While Ravishankar wasn’t specific about routes, partner airlines operate to destinations including San Francisco, Singapore and Hong Kong.
More job cuts at NZ were possible but not among frontline staff. He urged Kiwis to keep flying with the airline; get on-line or ‘’call your travel agent and book a ticket.’’ NZ was approached for comment.
