Air NZ fares

The Herald reports:

Kiwis wanting to travel to some regional centres are faced with an 18-hour bus ride – or forking out hundreds of dollars for an Air New Zealand flight. And, in some centres, it is cheaper to drive a car-load of people than buy a single airfare.

The Herald has compared the cost of Air New Zealand, Naked Bus and private car prices between North Island regional centres and Auckland or Wellington after Air NZ faced criticism this week for the price of its regional airfares. It found travellers could be paying more than 10 times more for the convenience of flying.

Let’s look at their data.

The Herald comparisons were for travellers trying to fly after, or as close to, 5pm on Friday September 12 and returning on Sunday afternoon.

Flying from Auckland to Tauranga return would cost $438 or $1.07/km, while taking a bus would be just $47.97 or 12c/km, according to prices listed on the companies’ websites.

Those times are basically peak times. Yes they cost $438 at peak times. But leave earlier each day, and the cost is only $238.

Personally I would drive Auckland to Tauranga as the drive time is around the same as fly and airport time.

A return flight between Wellington and Palmerston North was $326 or $1.15/km while the same trip on a bus was just $33.97 or 11c/km.

Again if you avoid peak times can be as cheap as $178 return.

But time is money. If your time is not valuable, then a bus is a good idea.

An Air NZ spokeswoman said the business offered close to a million regional seats for under $100 each year, up 400,000 seats in the past five years.

If you want cheap fares, then don’t fly at peak times.