Francesca Rudkin: Airline headlines and flight delays

Saturday Morning with Jack Tame

I started counting headlines about Air New Zealand two weeks ago after my flight from Nelson to Auckland was delayed by about an hour.

Then last Saturday my partners flight from Napier to Auckland was delayed after a bird strike. Neither delay was hugely consequential – just a little irritating.

But since then, there have been a number of press articles about issues with planes.

On the 30th of November, an Air NZ plane sat on the tarmac in Hong Kong for hours before being canned after a fuel fault and then crew sickness.

An Air NZ flight from Wellington to Sydney was diverted to Auckland on the 1st of December after engine problems.

And a flight from Gisborne to Auckland on the 2nd of December returned to Gisborne after engine problems. The plane landed safely after shutting down an engine shortly after departure.

Investigations are underway for both engine issues.

Anecdotally you don’t have to search too hard to find someone who’ll share a story of a flight delayed or cancelled, often at the last minute.

It got me wondering if we’re experiencing more incidents, delays and cancellations than before; or are we just complaining more? Do we feel we can complain more because quite often we’re paying good money to fly around our little country?

Recent figures released by the Ministry of Transport, which compare Jetstar and Air NZ’s services on the main trunk jet routes they compete on, show that in September Air New Zealand recorded 80.4% for on-time departures (within 15 minutes of schedule), and Jetstar 78.0%.

For on-time arrivals, Air New Zealand recorded 82.1% and Jetstar 80.6%. In January, Air New Zealand was sitting at 88% and it dropped to 77% in March this year. So reliability has fluctuated throughout the year.

Another interesting figure - Air New Zealand’s cancellation rate was 1.4%, more than twice Jetstar’s which was 0.6%.

So yeah, the stats could be better. We all accept airlines can’t control the weather, but Air New Zealand has had other issues to grapple with.

Planes out of action due to high global demand for engine maintenance meant 10 jets were out of service in the first half of this financial year. It is not expected this will be sorted until 2026.

On top of this, the travel market has been a mixed bag, leading the airline to announce this week they will be running fewer flights on some domestic routes in 2025. Who knows what this will do to prices?

A 1.4% cancellation rate is tiny in the overall scheme of things – but when combined with other disruptions and high prices, Air New Zealand has its challenges cut out for them. For so long they have been a beloved New Zealand brand, but since Covid it’s been like pushing a Dreamliner uphill. Have you run out of patience yet?

The Air New Zealand service and staff may be fabulous, but as long as long as the fleet and financials remain under pressure it looks like it will be difficulty to quiet the headlines.

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