'A lifeline': Flying in and out of regions always pricey - but fares still increasing, mayor says

Flying in and out of the regions has always been expensive, Gisborne's mayor says, but prices have increased.

On Thursday, Consumer NZ released information showing it had compared 11 recent Air New Zealand flights with flights from between 2019 and 2021 and all but one had a price increase.

Those price increases ranged from about 30 percent all the way up to nearly 300 percent.

Consumer NZ said the prices were unfair when Air New Zealand was the national carrier and sometimes the only available airline to fly with.

But Air New Zealand hit back and said the comparisons were unfair and misleading.

Some of the flights compared to recent ones were during the Covid-19 pandemic and when Air New Zealand was trying to rebuild its business.

It said its prices had only increased by about 20 percent when its own costs had increased for more than 40.

Gisborne mayor Rehette Stoltz told Morning Report flying in and out of the regions had always been "significantly more expensive than the main routes".

Stoltz understood it likely cost Air New Zealand more to fly such routes - but historically, airfares for the regions had always been more - and were continuing to increase.

She said she often received feedback from Gisborne locals and heard anecdotally that flying was very expensive.

Given the region's fragile infrastructure in recent years due to severe weather events, the ability to fly out was "a lifeline".

"If you need to get out of Gisborne now, it's a seven hour drive to Auckland or a seven hour flight to Wellington, but it's a one hour flight so it's really important to us to have that vital link, but yes, people are saying that it's very expensive.

"I'm a mother of an Otago student and last night I booked a flight for him coming home end of August, and it was just shy of $1000."

Stoltz said there were some smaller airlines that also operated in the regions - but they were not much competition for the national carrier.

There was no way to link international flights like could be done with Air New Zealand, for example, she said.

Stoltz understood all businesses had seen price increases - but she said it would be appropriate for Air New Zealand to sit down, look at its prices and see if they are fair - especially for the regions.

Despite the price concerns, the mayor praised Air New Zealand for its immediate action in the wake of Cyclone Gabrielle where Gisborne's roads were cut off to other parts of the country.

She said the airline "immediately" created a new route that was in place for months while roads were repaired.

Although the fares were pricey, they made sure vital links were available to people.