Wanganui may sit at the lower end of Air New Zealand's regional services but it is starting to see its fare schedules fall into line with other provincial centres.
An Air New Zealand spokeswoman told the Chronicle the country's national carrier had always planned to bring changes.
This means is that, on some days, a basic one-way fare can be bought for just $59. But this can be on the same day when the first flight out of Wanganui to Auckland will cost an eye-watering $239. The airline said it had signalled that planned - and significant - increases in domestic capacity would result in more low fares. "This was done to in order to build demand and we have seen this play out over the past six months," the spokeswoman said.
Driving the fare cuts is Air New Zealand's progressive move from the 19-seat Beech 1900D aircraft to the more cost effective 50-seater Bombardier Q300 aircraft on the Wanganui to Auckland route.
"As a result, in early August we introduced lower lead-in fares of $69 (reduced from $99) for the Wanganui-Auckland route," she said.