Pacific Blue to start daily transtasman flights from Hamilton

[Chairman]

Pacific Blue to start daily transtasman flights from Hamilton
4:00AM Wednesday Jun 03, 2009
By Grant Bradley

Pacific Blue will today announce daily transtasman services out of Hamilton, filling a gap left by Air New Zealand's withdrawal of international flights from the city.

Pacific Blue will fly seven times a week to Sydney and Brisbane.

The airline's commercial general manager, Adrian Hamilton-Manns, said it had been approached by Waikato civic leaders well before Air New Zealand pulled out of transtasman services in April.

'We've been looking at our options. We're not immune to what's happening with our competitors and what's happening with the greater economy so we have to play to our strengths and one of those has been in the regions, where we've received great support."

The airline was shuffling capacity and as a result of the new services, some flights from other New Zealand cities, including to the Pacific, would be reduced.

"There's a little bit of oversupply in some markets and not enough in others."

The airline will announce further details in Hamilton this morning, but is promising to bring "affordable fares and competition" to the region.

Hamilton Mayor Bob Simcock said he could not discuss details of the plans but said the airline could provide a welcome economic boost to the city.

"International flights are important for us because they bring income into the region. There has been a fairly strong expression of frustration with Air New Zealand's decision."

Air New Zealand has said the demand did not warrant continued international operations in Hamilton.

Mr Hamilton-Manns said his airline hoped to open up new domestic routes this year.

Pacific Blue will face added domestic competition when Jetstar starts next week.

[mavman]

Still no sign of an "official" announcement, however fares are up on the Pacific Blue website now....will be interseting to see what Air NZ think!

[Daniel]

Great news for the Waikato region
BTW - on the Pacific Blue website, the Brisbane flights says its operated by Pacific Blue and the Sydney flight by Virgin Blue. Interesting??

[greaneyr]

Great news for all the provinces (read 'provinces besides Queenstown'). It shows that there is hope for areas where there is a sound business case for a carrier to step in and provide a service, even if ANZ say its not viable. I can see Rotorua gaining domestic services from them at some point, once Jetconnect yields to Jetstar on the NZ main trunk domestic market.

I think we all saw it coming, what with the E-jet making a visit there then conveniently having a bird strike and cancelling the rest of its NZ tour as a result.

It also shows that there may well be more to ANZ's "it's not viable" line. If it wasn't viable, then why is it suddenly viable now? I believe that ANZ did it for the same reasons as pulling out of Palmerston North internationally - because they wanted to boost numbers on the established international routes out of Auckland and Wellington. PBI have now gone and rained on that little parade Let's see what else they have up their sleeve.

[Daniel]

Take a look at this guys...
I got the idea from when Jetstar was launching and some guys on the airliners.net forums did the same. What you do is go into the destinations page and then go into a destination like Auckland. Then you change the destination in the address bar eg "Queenstown". I have had a look at other places like PMR and ROT but nothing. Interesting that there is a ZQN page though. Could this be a sign of things to come???

[travnz]

Good find Daniel
I think it is bound to happen!

[Anthony]

It is interesting that some of the SYD flights are listed as operated by Virgin Blue. I had a look before and there seems to be less operated by them and more operated by Pacific Blue than there were when Daniel and I looked at school. Lots of flights operated by Pacific Blue to Brisbane and then connecting to a Virgin Blue flight to Sydney. Definitely saw it coming with the E-Jet though. Does anyone know where else it was headed before the bird incident?

I think that the Queenstown page is an interesting find - and I think that is a sign of something to come. Hopefully they expand to other places as well, Rotorua, Palmerston North, etc. They have the potential to beat Jetstar to it.

[NZ255]

You might be in luck

[Anthony]

Nick! I can't get to that website (http://flypacificblue.co.nz/Personal/Ou ... /index.htm I assume) myself... but you have pictures. I certainly hope so. Someone needs to make use our new long runway.

[d3fai13r]

QUOTE (Daniel @ Jun 3 2009, 09:17 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Could this be a sign of things to come???

DJ start their sale ZQN-SYD(as well as few other destinations)

[benwynn]

Its going to be expensive for DJ initially, going into ZQN, but fingers crossed it all works out well.

[d3fai13r]

sale fare is 249nzd inc tax, OW.
Today Jetstar have 2000seats at totally free(you even not paying credit card fee)(NZ routes only), but travel period feb/mar 2010, so ive "bought" 3rt tickets out of AKL. Nice... love competiotion. Now waiting for ANZ response to book few flights with them:)

[benwynn]

I didnt mean specifically for flights, but for training pilots and what not.

Lots of sales on in NZ recently, while air travel in Aus just gets more expensive.

[twinstarda42]

http://www.flypacificblue.com/AboutUs/Medi...es/P_008885.htm

PACIFIC BLUE ADDS NEW QUEENSTOWN, DUNEDIN AND WELLINGTON INTERNATIONAL FLIGHTS
“FLIGHTS FROM MORE NZ INTERNATIONAL AIRPORTS THAN ANY OTHER AIRLINEâ€￾
Queenstown – Sydney Direct! On sale from $259*
Dunedin – Brisbane Direct! On sale from $189*
Wellington – Sydney Direct! On sale from $189*
Wednesday 10 June 2009: Just a week after announcing international direct services from Hamilton to Australia, low fare airline Pacific Blue said today it will add new direct services to Australia from Queenstown, Dunedin and Wellington from September.

The Christchurch-based airline has the following new flights on sale from 10am today, including special launch fares:

Queenstown-Sydney: Two flights a week
Special launch fare of $259* one-way on the internet.
Regular lead-in fares will start from $289* one-way on the internet.
Dunedin-Brisbane: Three flights a week
Special launch fare of $189* one-way on the internet.
Regular lead-in fares will start from $209* one-way on the internet.
Wellington-Sydney: Three flights a week
Special launch fare of $189* one-way on the internet.
Regular lead-in fares will start from $239* one-way on the internet.
Virgin Blue Group CEO, Brett Godfrey, said the new flights would make air travel more affordable for more New Zealanders.

“Travellers in regional New Zealand have made it clear that they want the same easy access to low fares that the three main centres enjoy and our announcements today go a long way to achieving that,â€￾ he said.

“When the new services start Pacific Blue will have international flights from six New Zealand airports – Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin and Queenstown – which is more than any other airline.â€￾

Pacific Blue would be the first low-fare airline to fly internationally into Queenstown, which to date had been served only by full-service carriers.

“As much as Kiwis enjoy a warm weather holiday in Australia, we know that Aussies love to visit the stunning scenery of Queenstown for adventure and ski holidays or simply to relax, and now they’ll be able to do that at a reasonable price,â€￾ Mr Godfrey said.

The airline also announced it would introduce a direct daily jet service between Dunedin and Auckland to replace its current Dunedin-Christchurch-Auckland service.

Pacific Blue said it was making some changes to its trans-Tasman, Pacific and domestic schedules to accommodate the new routes. This included reducing capacity on domestic services by around 1% of available seat kilometres and retiming some domestic flights to offer a more “business friendlyâ€￾ timetable.

Flight Schedules

Queenstown – Sydney Schedule: Effective 1 September 2009 (subject to change)


* All fares are subject to availability and one-way on the net – $15 more by phone. A credit/debit card fee of $4 per one-way flight applies. Fares are on sale from 10am on Wednesday 10 June 2009 until midnight 24 June or until sold out for travel from 1 September 2009 to 10 December 2009 from Queenstown and Dunedin and for travel from 14 September 2009 to 10 December 2009 from Wellington. Fare price is based on GO! Fare and is non-refundable. Flights are subject to regulatory approval.

[Rebound]

The paper has said today PB will use a E190 from Hamilton now, where as originally it was a 737-800. Will have to wait and see guess.

[greaneyr]

I know I was excited about this initially, but now following the announcements of more international flights to and from the same old same old, it's starting to feel like a slap across the face.

I'm sure that those in Southland, Nelson, Tauranga, Gisborne, Hawkes Bay and Taranaki share my sentiments in failing to get excited about these apparent changes in the 'New Zealand' aviation market that won't make an iota of difference to the convenience of their travel! I'm weakly optimistic that Pac Blue are taking a 'gently gently' approach to things, and that bigger changes will follow... but somehow....

[d3fai13r]

QUOTE (Rebound @ Jun 11 2009, 01:27 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The paper has said today PB will use a E190 from Hamilton now, where as originally it was a 737-800.

As i don't believe to any journalist work(except stupid paraphrasing for uni)-ive checked amadeus, it still shows 738 for DJ out of Hamilton. Maybe PB have intention to use that for Hamilton/Dunedin(and this make sence), but at least for today Am states 738 on these routes
Wish to see tham(E190) in Hamilton)))

[twinstarda42]

QUOTE (d3fai13r @ Jun 13 2009, 08:02 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

As i don't believe to any journalist work(except stupid paraphrasing for uni)-ive checked amadeus, it still shows 738 for DJ out of Hamilton. Maybe PB have intention to use that for Hamilton/Dunedin(and this make sence), but at least for today Am states 738 on these routes
Wish to see tham(E190) in Hamilton)))

the media may of misconstrued this part of the press release:

“When our New Zealand team landed at Hamilton Airport a few weeks ago with one of our new Embraer jets we were very encouraged to see a strong turnout from local government and businesses who asked us to consider providing a direct link to Australia. We’re very pleased today to make that request a reality.â€￾

http://www.pacificbluehamiltonnz.info/

[twinstarda42]

QUOTE (greaneyr @ Jun 13 2009, 01:41 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I know I was excited about this initially, but now following the announcements of more international flights to and from the same old same old, it's starting to feel like a slap across the face.

I'm sure that those in Southland, Nelson, Tauranga, Gisborne, Hawkes Bay and Taranaki share my sentiments in failing to get excited about these apparent changes in the 'New Zealand' aviation market that won't make an iota of difference to the convenience of their travel! I'm weakly optimistic that Pac Blue are taking a 'gently gently' approach to things, and that bigger changes will follow... but somehow....

http://www.hamiltonairport.co.nz/page/5-Home
Hamilton Airport have revamped their website and have added the slogan ' gateway to the central north island' and are promoting Hamilton as the entry point to nz for and with pages promoting most places from hamilton to the hawkes bay , Tauranga, Taupo, Rotorua etc.

[greaneyr]

QUOTE (twinstarda42 @ Jun 15 2009, 11:55 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

http://www.hamiltonairport.co.nz/page/5-Home
Hamilton Airport have revamped their website and have added the slogan ' gateway to the central north island' and are promoting Hamilton as the entry point to nz for and with pages promoting most places from hamilton to the hawkes bay , Tauranga, Taupo, Rotorua etc.

And I have to admit, they do have a point. There's a lot of promoted tourism in the areas they are pushing (Waitomo, Coromandel, Raglan, Taupo, Tauranga, Rotorua etc), all of which are far closer to them than they are to Palmy. I do think it's a bit weak of them to push the wine country thing. Christ, they're over 4 hours to Napier and Palmy can get you to Hawkes Bay vineyards in under 2 hours. We're the same distance from Gisborne as Hamilton (over a much better road) and why not throw in Wairarapa vineyards to boot? Skifields are pretty much 50/50, and I'm glad they didn't have the nerve to throw in Taranaki since that's exactly the same time from Hamilton as from Palmy.

I guess it shows the ridiculousness of my claim to better services here when all can do is talk about the good tourism-worthy places that are within close distance of Palmy (as opposed to talking about what Palmy itself can offer)!! However, there are two positives I have taken from their website:

1) They seem to have drawn a line that they're not promoting the sights of anything south of. They haven't really trodden on Auckland's territory, and they've stopped quite a long way north of Palmy. Leaving stuff for us perhaps?
2) Traffic does actually flow away from airports too. Sure, it's all great to promote why people should come 'to' your region, but there's still a LOT of New Zealanders in the central/lower NI who have to drive/fly a long way to get to an international airport if they want to holiday themselves. The people I spoke to who flew on the old Freedom Air flights out of Palmy said they were virtually always full, so I really don't see how the service apparently wasn't viable. I guess this one is my biggest annoyances with the way this whole thing has panned out.

We had Freedom, lost them, nearly had OzJet, then now it just seems like a solid business case has been forgotten about.