Grant Bradley looks at what’s new in aviation and how it will benefit fliers.
1. The flurry of new flights this month
This year has ended as Jetstar begins regional flights within six months of announcing them, Air New Zealand taking the big leap into South America, flying to Buenos Aires three times a week (with hopes of increasing frequency) Philippine Airlines flying to Auckland via Cairns four times a week, again, with ambitions to expand the service, and late last week mainland Chinese heavyweight Air China beginning services from Beijing. Air New Zealand flies to a new destination, Houston, next Tuesday and the five-times-a-week service gives access to the US south. There are also new flights to Rarotonga from Jetstar and Virgin Australia. Airlines don't commit hundreds of millions of capital and immense effort lightly - global travel is hitting new records and they want their share.
2. New destinations next year
Already Air New Zealand has announced a new service to Vietnam starting next winter and has another Pacific Rim leisure destination to reveal soon. Its alliance partner, United Airlines, is heading back to New Zealand after a 13-year absence, starting flights next winter from San Francisco to Auckland. Around the same time, the world's biggest carrier, American Airlines, is making big moves in a deal with Qantas that will break Air New Zealand's stranglehold on non-stop flying across the Pacific.
3. Low fares will continue
Relative to wages, flying's never been cheaper and this is set to continue. The prospect of an announcement by American Airlines prompted one-off sub-$500 return fares to the US from Air New Zealand. Unlike previous years when price wars forced some airlines off routes and even out of business, this phase of capacity growth promises to be more sustainable, thanks to low fuel prices, better planes and, for the most, sensible alliances to share the heavy lifting. Fuel makes up around 40 per cent of long-haul costs and as oil prices show no sign of returning to the US$100 ($150) per barrel high of 18 months ago, airlines can plan with more confidence than usual. During the past century the airline industry has seldom made a profit over a year, but in the past 12 months most are in the black, and some are making super-profits. Competition is king for the traveller. The family of six I met who were able to travel on the first Jetstar flight from Napier to Auckland for $300 return to give the kids a pre-Christmas treat at Rainbow's End will agree with that.
4. New planes are coming
The Boeing 787 is becoming ubiquitous. Four airlines regularly use them through New Zealand and both new US carriers will use the Dreamliner, ideally suited to long thin routes, on their flights here. Korean Airlines is bringing in the mother of all 747s, the 747-8, here over summer but Cathay Pacific has even bigger plans to use the world's newest wide-body plane, the A350 XWB, on the Auckland-Hong Kong route next year. Like the Dreamliner, it is made largely of the most modern lightweight material, has the latest fuel-efficient technology and increased cabin comfort but, unlike its Boeing rival, its development and introduction fell into the "no news is good news" category and this plane has already slotted into a number of airline fleets around the world.
