The Australian company yesterday advised Dunedin Airport it would be withdrawing its Monday flight from July 20 to August 24, a total of six flights
The service between Dunedin and Gold Coast started with three flights a week in the middle of last year and that increased with a Monday flight in March.
The others flights are on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
Jetstar was contacted late yesterday and a spokesperson said it had made some adjustments to its New Zealand domestic and transtasman schedule, with affected customers rebooked within 24 hours, or offered a refund.
Affected customers were offered alternative accommodation options on the same day and transtasman passengers within one day of their original booked travel date.
Jet fuel prices had more than doubled since the start of the United States-Israel-Iran war, and remained highly volatile, the company said.
In response, Jetstar reduced its international capacity by 5% in May and June.
‘‘Given fuel prices remain significantly elevated, Jetstar has extended these capacity reductions until the end of September.’’
It is the latest bump to flight schedules which have been all over the place since the end of February when fuel prices started climbing.
Air New Zealand announced late on Thursday it was making more changes to its schedule, which Dunedin Airport confirmed yesterday.
A spokesperson for the airline said due to the ongoing impact of high jet fuel costs, Air NZ had made a small number of schedule changes for travel across July. These consolidations affect about 2% of passengers due to travel across this period.
It did not outline the number of flights and capacity impacted.
Taieri MP Ingrid Leary said the cancellations would hit two return flights from Auckland in late June, two return flights from Wellington at the end of June and mid-July and 10 return flights from Christchurch, primarily late-night services from Monday to Wednesday.
Ms Leary said Air NZ had advised that Dunedin’s schedule naturally fluctuated more than other centres due to significant student travel periods, meaning demand and capacity varied from month to month.
The overall capacity reductions for the Dunedin routes were broadly in line with nationwide adjustments.
Despite these temporary reductions, there would still be 303 return flights operating to and from Dunedin over this period, she said.
‘‘The airline has reassured us it has prioritised maintaining services during peak travel times, including key student movement dates, while trimming lower-demand and off-peak flights where possible.
‘‘We have raised with the airline the flow-on effects of reductions to Christchurch flights on Dunedin travellers, and it remains a watching brief.’’
Dunedin Airport business development general manager Megan Crawford said the airline had indicated there would be some consolidation of services in June and July.
‘‘They have focused on lower-demand and off-peak services wherever possible. For Dunedin, Air NZ have ensured that these changes minimise impact to passengers during busy periods, like student holidays.’’
Air NZ made changes to its flight schedule in mid-March and early April.
A Queenstown Airport spokeswoman said it had only seen the seasonal dip in capacity that was usual at this time of year, and passenger numbers were tracking ahead of last year.
