Pacific Blue to stop flying NZ domestic routes

Pacific Blue is to stop flying domestic routes in this country and redeploy its New Zealand-based aircraft on to the trans-Tasman and medium haul international routes.
The decision is included in the first phase of a network review by the Virgin Blue Group of Airlines.
Virgin Blue chief executive officer John Borghetti said passengers holding forward bookings on New Zealand domestic routes from October 18 would be provided with re-accommodation and refund options.
The company was adding capacity to routes with strong revenue potential and removing capacity from services which were underperforming, Mr Borghetti said today.
Increasing capacity on trans-Tasman routes would lead to a rise in New Zealand-based staff.
Pacific Blue now employed around 450 New Zealanders at crew bases in Christchurch and Auckland and its head office in Christchurch. The increase in international flying meant up to 100 new jobs would be created.
Under the changes Pacific Blue's Brisbane-Hamilton service will increase from three to four flights a week, Brisbane-Dunedin services will increase from three to four flights per week, and the Christchurch-Melbourne frequency will increase from four flights per week to a daily service.
Pacific Blue spokesman Phil Boeyen said that by the time of the last domestic services on October 17, Pacific Blue would have been flying domestically for nearly three years. It had 106 flights a week between Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Queenstown and Dunedin.
It had been difficult to make any money on the New Zealand domestic routes, Mr Boeyen said.
The company was pleased with its impact on the market in terms of bringing low fares to domestic travel, but the yields were not sustainable.
``It's very difficult to made money on flights that are cheaper than the cost of the taxi to the airport,'' Mr Boeyen said.
The airline was confident about its trans-Tasman operations, which was where it had started in 2004.
Also, it was important to remember Pacific Blue had been flying large Boeing 737-800 aircraft on the domestic routes and had lots of experience in the medium haul international sector.