Air NZ to cut 1100 flights, 44,000 customers affected

Thursday, 12 March 2026

Thousands of Air New Zealand customers are set to be affected as the airline cuts down flights.

CEO Nikhil Ravishankar said on Thursday morning that after consolidations they worked out between March 16 and May 3 there would be 22,000 flights and Air NZ would carry 1.9 million customers.

Consolidations for the next six to eight weeks included cutting 1100 flights and in turn affecting 44,000 customers.

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'Affected customers will be contacted today and will experience minimal disruption, with majority travelling on the same day as their original booking.“

He confirmed to Herald Now that majority of customers would be moved to flights on the same day but said there was “a handful who will have to fly the following day”.

Air NZ also said customers affected would be reaccommodated and would be eligible for a refund or credit if they are unable to fly.

Route and frequency consolidation was something Air NZ did as usual practice “and this is just a version of that”.

Ravishankar said the cut was specifically related to optimising fuel costs.

What regions are affected?

Ravishankar told RNZ the way Air NZ had tried to consolidate the flying was by making sure it focused on off peak times and reducing frequency “where there is frequency to be reduced”.

“So routes where we don’t have frequency to fall back on we’ve maintained the frequency. So if you think about a port like Hokitika where we only have two rotations a day, we’ve maintained that connectivity.”

The Air NZ CEO didn’t share where the flights would be affected but said he believed the airline had spoken to all of the regional mayors and had received support.

Ravishankar told RNZ the airline was looking at reducing a small number of international services and said the trimming of long was “fairly negligible” with about three flights affected.

Cutting costs

On Tuesday, Air New Zealand increased its airfares due to a surge in jet fuel prices caused by the Middle East conflict, lifting economy fares by $10 one-way on domestic routes, $20 on short-haul international flights, and up to $90 on long-haul trips.

The airline’s update to the New Zealand Exchange (NZX), goes some way to explain its increases.

Air New Zealand previously forecast jet fuel would average about US$85 a barrel, but prices have recently surged to between US$150 and US$200 per barrel.

The company said it may need to take “further pricing action” and adjust its network and schedule as required.

It was also progressing ongoing cost reduction initiatives, which it expected to partially offset the cost pressures.

Ravishankar shared to RNZ they would manage discretionary spending, which included changing meetings with global suppliers by an online or phone call instead of staff travel.

He said it was too early to tell if there would be job losses.

Morning Report host Ingrid Hipkiss asked about Air NZ’s famous safety videos, and if they were included in cost cutting measures.

“I don’t know if you’re aware but as I started, one of the decisions we did take, given the company’s financial position, was to not spend money on a new safety video this year,” new CEO Ravishankar said.

He said they would instead use the back catalogue which was “quite exciting”, and “why not?”

Ravishankar told Herald Now that putting in tactical price changes, consolidating routes and frequencies of flights and taking measures around managing costs was not something that just Air NZ was doing, but all airlines in the world “right now”.

Air NZ has been approached for comment on what flights and areas are directly affected.