Change to air service could affect Napier crew

Plans by Air New Zealand to increase capacity in and out of Hawke's Bay will probably see a drop in Napier-based pilots and crew, taking around 30 jobs out of the region.

The airline is consulting with Napier-based pilots and cabin crew of its Air Nelson subsidiary regarding the implications of planned changes to the type of aircraft servicing Hawke's Bay Airport from next February.

Air NZ said it plans to swap some Q300 aircraft servicing the region with larger ATR72 planes in a bid to "increase seat capacity and stimulate demand" for travel to the Bay.

"These changes will not result in a decrease in the total number of aircraft servicing Napier; the larger aircraft will operate the same number of flights the smaller aircraft currently do," an airline spokeswoman said.

"However, it will mean the mix of the three aircraft which overnight in the city will change. Instead of three Q300s that have overnighted previously, there will be two ATR and one Q300 aircraft on the ground overnight."

The ATRs are operated by another Air NZ subsidiary, Mt Cook Airlines, and it is likely its pilots and crew would spend overnight stops in Napier hotels, rather than living in the region.

Air NZ recently spent $200 million-plus on ATR turbo prop aircraft for regional routes and said the larger aircraft were cheaper to run on a per seat basis, enabling it to keep fares down.

The airline has faced strong criticism this week regarding high ticket prices from perceived "monopoly pricing" on its regional routes, including in and out of Hawke's Bay. But Air NZ defended itself, saying average regional airfares had decreased by around 1 per cent over the past five years despite escalating fuel prices and substantial increases in other costs such as airport landing fees and airways charges.

"We are extremely conscious that to keep growing our business and supporting regional economies we need to offer as many cheap seats as possible," the spokeswoman said yesterday.

The airline offers around a million seats to and from the regions for under $100 each year, an increase of 400,000 seats in the past five years, she said.

"In addition to extra seat capacity andmore cheap fares over the past five years, we have also been investing extensively in promoting our regions within New Zealand and overseas and supporting local tourism organisations with events such as the Napier Art Deco Weekend."