Why Christchurch has become the centre of a new airline war

Monday, 1 June 2026

Grant Bradley is an aviation and business journalist.

OPINION: Against a backdrop of aero-political intrigue, the biggest airlines in New Zealand are growing again at the same time as they’re also trimming.

A week after Qantas firmly replanted its flag in this country, with top level Government endorsement from the prime minister down, Air New Zealand struck back with new routes with an additional 100,000 seats from Christchurch over summer.

Financially-wounded Air New Zealand recovered its mojo, with chief executive Nikhil Ravishankar saying, “It feels goddamn good to be announcing growth again” after outlining details of summer services to Perth, Singapore and Tokyo from Christchurch.

The pivot south for Air NZ is part of its sweeping strategic reset, the full results of which will be known soon.

“When we were planning this, you could see the stress melt away from 11,500 Air New Zealanders, who've been working through some pretty interesting times over the last few years,” says Ravishankar, perhaps overstating relief among staff who still face uncertainty and understating just how ‘interesting’ times have been.

The airline still has more cuts and consolidation on the radar this winter as it grapples with fuel prices that are around record levels and will take months to fall following a resolution of the Middle East conflict.

Qantas and subsidiary Jetstar are also cutting existing flights across the Tasman and sharply on domestic routes here. But aside from the fuel response, both Air NZ and Qantas are in growth mode on new international routes, so enter PM Christopher Luxon. First, leading a contingent of ministers to the Qantas function in May, then warmly praising Air NZ’s new route announcement at the Trenz tourism showcase in Auckland.

Following the Wellington reception, attended by Qantas chief executive Vanessa Hudson, Luxon and his old Air NZ colleague and now Qantas international boss Cam Wallace shared a few stories at another venue along with a couple of other former Air NZ executives. The reception was the biggest of its kind for a while and the high level Qantas presence and the warmth of the welcome did not go unnoticed at Air New Zealand headquarters.

The Government owns half of Air New Zealand, which is under growing pressure from the Qantas group whose new routes from throughout New Zealand (including Christchurch, Dunedin and Hamilton) represent its biggest expansion in this country in its 65 years of flying here. It again has stressed how it sees Auckland as something of an eastern hub in addition to its Australian cities.

Luxon has no problem backing both airlines.

“Anything that makes New Zealand and the planes go faster is exactly what you want to see. It's foot on the accelerator on everything - growth, growth, growth.”

He was on the receiving end himself when at the helm of Air NZ. He once recalled that then-prime minister Sir John Key would occasionally call him and jokingly remind him of Jetstar’s presence when he spotted one of its planes from his Beehive window and, more seriously, heartily endorsing the Australian airline’s significant (but sadly short-lived) entry into Air NZ’s backyard fortress; regional routes for four years from 2015.

Air NZ will have up to 25% more wide-body capacity over the next two years as more Dreamliners return to its fleet from engine maintenance and new ones are added. These $200 million assets need places to fly and this has fuelled the Christchurch expansion.

It is also something of a defensive move, as Jetstar will also start flying to Perth from Christchurch, in addition to rapid Qantas expansion. Air NZ has faced criticism for not flying more long-haul services from the city, so its wide-body planes will be a welcome sight from the end of October. The decision to fly alongside commercial partner Singapore Airlines to Changi has puzzled some, but Christchurch Airport’s aeronautical development general manager Gordon Bevan says there’s plenty of demand to soak up capacity, with existing flights around 90% full almost year-round.

Consultancy firm Eagle Aviation uses Cirium data to analyse routes and its founder Simon Russell says ahead of Air NZ’s expansion, Christchurch has already benefitted from a different mix of aircraft and routes over the last two decades.

Even though the number of flights slightly decreased, seat capacity grew 32% and available seat kilometres grew 52% — meaning larger aircraft and longer-haul routes are driving growth.

The current fuel price squeeze will end and there’s financial pain for the two airlines for some time yet, especially Air NZ. But re-booted competition between them and new routes out of Christchurch is great news for tourist operators and travellers, especially in the South Island.