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Air New Zealand is considering flying Boeing 737 jets into Invercargill, Hamilton and Palmerston North, and expanding the use of the aircraft into Dunedin.
The 737s have more seats than the turbo-prop planes the company flies into those cities.
Group general manager short haul airlines Bruce Parton today said discussions about the potential new services were starting with airports and local authorities.
At the same time, Air New Zealand was securing two more 737 series aircraft to enable it to offer prime-time jet services to at least two of the provincial centres, he said.
The extra aircraft would take Air New Zealand's fleet to 18 dedicated domestic 737 aircraft, compared to 14 aircraft being operated only a few months ago.
Mr Parton said a final decision on which cities would be offered the six-month jet trials would be based on customer demand and the level of support that could be gained from the regions.
The decision would be made within two months, with the new services expected to start by mid-2008.
"A number of provincial centres want prime-time domestic 737 flights to target greater numbers of business travellers into their region," he said.
Jet services will be trialled for six months, which was a reasonable amount of time to gauge demand and assess sustainability, he said.
During the trials jet aircraft would operate at least five days a week, with jet and turboprop capacity balanced to ensure frequency of service was not sacrificed.
The introduction of jets into provincial New Zealand would help stimulate regional tourism, and provide a boon for business travellers, as well as benefiting the broader travelling public.
Adding two aircraft to Air New Zealand's jet fleet would also provide the company with greater flexibility to respond to any disruption on main trunk sectors, Mr Parton said.
The Boeing 737-300 aircraft the airline operates has 136 seats, while its two larger turbo-prop planes -- the Aerospatiale ATR72 and the Bombardier Q300 -- have 68 seats and 50 seats, respectively.
- NZPA
