Cost of Air NZ flights has soared up to 300% in the past 5 years, Consumer NZ says

Thursday, 18 July 2024

Consumer NZ says domestic airfares have risen almost 300 percent in recent times.

Air New Zealand flights increased between 34% and 297% in the past five years.

Consumer NZ compared fares for 11 Air New Zealand flights in 2023 and 2024 with fares for equivalent flights taken from 2019 to 2021.

But Air NZ called the findings “misleading comparisons”.

Catching a flight has become a luxury for most as Air New Zealand flights have sky-rocketed up to 300% in the past five years, Consumer NZ has found.

The consumer group compared fares for 11 Air New Zealand flights in 2023 and 2024 with fares for equivalent flights taken from 2019 to 2021, and found all flights, bar one, were more expensive three or four years later.

The price increases varied between 34% and 297%.

Air New Zealand flights have increased massively in the past five years.

Acting general manager for domestic Jeremy O’Brien told Stuff in June that cost increases of more than 30% since 2020 were to blame.

However the national carrier has labelled Consumer NZ’s findings as “misleading”.

“The small sample of fares they have used reflects two very different operating environments. In 2020 and 2021 there was a global pandemic, the borders were closed, and at times there was restricted domestic travel,” Air New Zealand general manager domestic, Scott Carr said.

“Our domestic fares have increased by 20% from 2020 to 2024. Meanwhile, the airline has faced rising costs from suppliers of over 40%.

Stuff Travel puts both carriers through a mystery test (video published June 2022).

“In the past year, according to Statistics NZ, domestic airfares have decreased by 4%.”

Stats NZ data from March showed domestic airfares went up 7.4% in February compared to January 2024 and increased 7.7% from February 2023.

Consumer NZ found a return flight to Hamilton for two adults with no luggage, booked just 2 days before a funeral, cost a modest $281.20 in 2021. Three years later, the same flight booking cost $1118.

A flight for a family of four from Sydney to Palmerston North, made in March 2020, two days before New Zealand’s first nationwide Covid-19 lockdown was announced, cost $1372 in total. Today, the same flight costs $3451 – two and half times what it cost four years ago.

To compare as accurately as possible communications and campaigns adviser at Consumer, Abby Damen, said the bookings were recreated on the same day as the original booking, the same amount of baggage and with the date and time of travel as similar as possible, for example a booking made on Friday May 1, 2021 was booked on Friday May 3 in 2024.

A return flight to Hamilton for two adults with no luggage, booked just two days before a funeral, cost a modest $281.20 in 2021. Three years later, it cost $1118.

Even in the cases where a booking was made in advance, usually with more than a month’s lead-in time, the airfare had doubled, and in one case nearly tripled, Damen said.

“A Christchurch–Dunedin return trip booked with 5 weeks lead-in time cost $123.60 in 2020. The same flight in 2023 cost $344 – nearly three times as much.

“A return trip between Wellington and Dunedin for two people and one checked bag cost $487.20 in 2020. Fast-forward to 2024 and the price of the flights had effectively doubled to $970.

“It’s not great news if the only travel option you have is to fly. It’s no surprise that New Zealand consumers are questioning how and why flight prices have increased so much over the past few years.”

Air New Zealand, which hold 86% of the country’s aviation market, announced big changes to short-haul travel in June, along with price rises on domestic routes.

Damen said Consumer regularly received complaints from people frustrated about the cost of flying, as well as issues with cancelled flights, particularly in some regions.

“If you travel to or from the regions, like Gisborne or Whangārei, your options might be to grin and bear it – or not fly at all.”

Consumer chief executive Jon Duffy said the watchdog “stand by the results” of the price check.

“It serves as evidence to support the anecdotal concerns being communicated to us by consumers across Aotearoa. We accept that more research and bigger sample sizes would be useful, but that doesn’t make the sample misleading. It just means there are unanswered questions.”

“The price check clearly demonstrates that some Air New Zealand fares have clearly increased by more than the 22% figure Air New Zealand is using.

“Air New Zealand’s response seems overly defensive and misses the bigger point - that it is impossible for consumers to understand whether they are getting a fair deal from the national carrier.”