Photo: Unsplash / Douglas Bagg
Air New Zealand's cuts to its regional flights will make travel harder for the business community, Rotorua mayor Tania Tapsell says.
The airline is making reductions to flights between February and June next year - many of them regional routes to and from Wellington.
Tapsell told Morning Report that high prices and a loss of flight times were making it prohibitive to travel.
She questioned why it was usually cheaper to fly from Auckland to Sydney than Auckland to Rotorua which was a 40-minute flight.
Air NZ announces further cuts to domestic network
Losing the early morning flight to Wellington meant the business community has to stay overnight, which was not good for productivity.
"We did have a small win though - we have managed to get better flights between Rotorua and Auckland and more frequency so that is good for our business travellers and also for a top tourist destination."
Rehette Stoltz Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
Gisborne mayor Rehette Stoltz said she had shared her concerns with the airline.
Representatives had assured her that high demand flights to the region would not be touched.
"For isolated regions like us that connectivity is so, so very important."
While there were a couple of small regional air operators, the majority of people relied on Air New Zealand for both national connections and to access international flights.
Both mayors also expressed their concerns over the reliability of Air New Zealand flights.
If travellers found they had been cancelled they faced hours of driving to get to each city.
Average fares might rise
Air New Zealand says a drop in government and corporate demand has driven its latest cuts to the domestic network.
Air NZ domestic regional manager on domestic cuts
Domestic regional manager Scott Carr said the airline was running around 400 flights a day so that total will be reduced by two percent.
"It is targeted more specifically at regional areas where we're seeing a significant drop in government and corporate demand."
He agreed some communities would be affected more than others but the flights were generally in and out of Wellington.
Average prices might rise with fewer seats available especially in the "bottom fare structures", including some Grab-a-seat fares.
"That's not the reason we're doing it. The reason is we're trying to reduce losses on these markets to ensure that the rest of the flights are sustainable."
The airline's aim was to still carry the same number of passengers but on fewer flights, Carr said.