More cheap flights from Air NZ: Let's see how big a deal this really is

Bring on more cheap domestic flights.

A $39 fare from Hawke's Bay to Wellington or Auckland is no big deal.
They are available now.

Here's the big deal - Air New Zealand is now saying they will be offering more of these cheap flights.

The national air carrier's slashing of regional air fares will see 750,000 seats a year available for less than $50.

Until now, securing a cheap seat was done mainly by monitoring Air New Zealand's grabaseat.co.nz

If you were able to book a few months in advance, you could pick something cheap up. The further in advance you were booking, the more likelihood of getting a good deal on a weekend.

Mostly, the cheap flights were during the week. And again, even better if you weren't flying on a Friday or Monday.

A big frustration of a cheap flight has been a great deal going one way, but having to pay for an expensive return flight.

A return flight from Hawke's Bay to Wellington can cost $500 to $600 return, the same price of a return airfare to Australia.

It's a common grumble, one that Air NZ are probably tired of hearing.

Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has a point - he reckons there is no point in having cheap fares in the middle of the day while commuter flights remained expensive.

"There's no point having a very cheap fare at 11.30am or 13.30pm in the middle of the day and the fares continue to be horrendously large when most enterprises and people need to travel."

Although, Jones may have to accept that his wants and desires don't fit with the new pricing strategy ... Air NZ say it's about ordinary Kiwis seeing their country, rather than business people.

The new prices are for one-way, entry-level-fares, by the way.

Which means booking two individual flights rather than one "return".

Although, anyone who has had to a make a connecting flight in Auckland en route to another domestic destination may be well-versed on doing this - occasionally booking one-way flights is cheaper than booking one "return".

Roll on March 25, let's see just how big the announcement really is.

It's a step in the right direction for Kiwis tired of paying the same cost as a return flight to Australia, to travel from Napier to Auckland or Wellington and back.