Pacific Blue spreading its wings

By CHRIS DANIELS

Pacific Blue will start flying new routes in November, although the Virgin offshoot has yet to make a commitment to Auckland.

The Christchurch-based airline's new Gold Coast and Brisbane services will operate twice a week from early November.

Company spokesman David Huttner says frequencies will be increased as demand grows.

Pacific Blue flies from Christchurch to Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. It also flies between Wellington and Sydney.

Huttner says more Australians are taking short breaks to different areas of New Zealand, and the Wellington region is a popular base for travel to nearby wineries and the Abel Tasman National Park.

"We are confident the expansion of Pacific Blue routes will stimulate more people to travel more often, for less."

The competitive threat posed by a low-cost airline like Pacific Blue is one of the mainstays of the argument mounted by Air New Zealand and Qantas to support their application to form an anti-competitive alliance.

Rejected by competition regulators on both sides of the Tasman, the airlines have appealed to the High Court in New Zealand and the Australian Competition Tribunal.

The results of these appeals are pending, with the Australian decision likely to come first.

Lawyers for Air New Zealand and Qantas have argued the competitive threat of Pacific Blue, with its lower costs, means any joint venture would not be able to increase prices or lower standards.

They said any abuse of market dominance would be immediately punished by Pacific Blue.

The Commerce Commission said Qantas and Air New Zealand would be handed near-total dominance of many routes, with airfares likely to rise as a result.