The koru won't be seen at Heathrow Airport in London from next October. Photo / Supplied
The koru won't be seen at Heathrow Airport in London from next October. Photo / Supplied
A London-based Kiwi has started a petition urging Air Zealand to keep flying to the city, labelling the decision to quit services a PR disaster.
The airline plans to stop flying between Los Angeles and London in October next year and Pauline Craise says this has sparked ''outrage'' among those who used the service.
''It is truly unthinkable for our award-winning airline to abandon its sole connection to the UK and Europe, and its most loyal passengers,'' Craise said.
''They've got the best service, the best people and they've got the best modern aircraft. It's a joy.''
The airline offers the quickest route to New Zealand. Google Flights has the London Heathrow to Auckland flight at 25 hours, one hour quicker than Cathay Pacific's flight via Hong Kong.
Early promotion of London services. Image / Supplied
Being able to travel on the same aircraft all the way through was also a plus, and the stopover at LAX, she says.
Her ActionStation petition had by lunchtime today attracted 169 signatures, another has been started on change.org.
Craise has been in London for 20 years and flies home every year on Air New Zealand. As an IT consultant she is a seasoned traveller on other airlines, most of which doesn't rate highly.
''Seeing the koru at Heathrow makes you swell with pride - we don't want to see it go.''
The airline announced on Wednesday it would quit the route which it has flown since 1982 as the economics of the service had changed.
Acting chief executive Jeff McDowall says there are now more than twice the number of ways to fly to London from New Zealand than a decade ago and Air New Zealand was facing increased competition from the US to Britain.
When services started the airline flew Boeing 747s promoted as ''The Ritz of the Skies'' an in 1995 flew the Queen to Auckland in what the first routine commercial flight used by a reigning British monarch.
But Craise says it's not just a sentimental attachment to the airline on the route that is behind her campaign.
''Apart from being our fastest and only direct route home to our families, it is even more vital to retain this direct route between the UK and New Zealand with Brexit taking place,'' she says.
''Brexit opens up free trade agreements between NZ and the UK, and we need our airline more than ever to support these trade agreements.''
Online comments about the withdrawal from London include those who described the decision as ''lunacy,'' ''ridiculous'' and from one who said she was ''devastated''.
Today an airline spokeswoman said: ''We recognise that some customers are disappointed with this news, however this is the best decision for our business.''
Around 155 cabin crew and sales staff are affected although some will be redeployed to other jobs in the airline.
While the koru will no longer be seen in London or anywhere in Europe (it pulled out of Frankfurt in 2001) it is beginning non-stop flights from Auckland to New York next October.
The flights will be the longest on the airline's network and will initially be run three times a week.
