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I use Air NZ always for domestic flights. I think they are excellent and the added benefits (Koru, on time (mostly) and so on) far outweigh saving a few dollars flying on certain other airlines…!
Internationally, however, it all seems less clear. Air NZ has some of the highest fares available in each class and I am intrigued to know why. I am sure they do competitor analysis, so they know that (for example) Business Class to London on Quatar is just about half the cost of doing it on Air NZ and so on.
What explains the difference, and why doesn’t competition act to change it more than it does?
I don’t think Air NZ (or anyone else) is able to really compete with the middle eastern airlines. And apart from AKL-LHR/EU they aren’t competitors on any other direct route really. It’s more the LAX-LHR route I think NZ have competition to LHR. I’m sure I saw fares for $250USD in Y on sale.
There’s probably some Chinese airlines to compete with NZ. US there’s AA but only seasonal. LAN to Sth America although flying to different airports. Hawaiian Airlines to Hawaii. Smaller competition to the pacific islands. QF/VA TT. Apart from QFs A330 NZ has the better product.
NZ has alliances with United to SFO, CX to HKG, and SQ to SIN so no real competition there.
Most other places you’ll need to hop through Australia or Asia. I think other airlines like SQ have way more competition in their backyard than NZ does. Air NZ are quite lucky geographically.
If you can grab sale fares they can be good but that’s luck of the draw with regards to timing. Rather pay a bit more for an airline I’m familiar with especially long haul. Even if I were to choose a cheaper carrier, if I had an awful flight I wouldn’t consider it value for money. I’d still be thinking – never again!
NZ don’t really need to compete with anybody on the NZ -> LHR route. They sell their ~200 seats per day on NZ2 and NZ1 and that’s topped up with high value US customers who fly the LAX-LHR sector. There are enough people willing to pay their premium that means they don’t need to heavily discount on NZ metal.
For those who are price conscious the fact they also sell a significant number of partner seats (primarily SQ, CX and VS) via Asia on their own 086 ticket stock which means they’re filling planes to Asia and clipping the ticket on the 2nd sector.
The part I am not understanding is why people are prepared to overpay. They are good – but not THAT good. My wife was looking for flights today and even found instances where code shared flights were considerably more expensive than the same flights booked direct with the airlines concerned.
Normally, customers are far more price sensitive to flight costs. A few hundred dollars difference is one thing, but thousands of dollars, not so much.
It strikes me as odd, is all.
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