Air New Zealand (ANZ) is to scrap its thrice-weekly Los Angeles-Nadi (Fiji) service following poor returns.
ANZ will cease operating to the island from 26 April and instead extend its existing codeshare to Air Pacific on the route, upping frequency to six-times weekly.
”It [the route] has not been performing for a number of years,” an ANZ spokeswoman told ABTN, ”[but] the commercial arrangement with Air Pacific has proved very successful.”
Any decision onto which other routes the Boeing 767-300ER aircraft used for the Pacific island will be deployed, has yet to be taken.”
Flight time on the US-Fiji sector is 11:40h and the current extreme pressure on fuel prices may have been a contributory factor to ANZ”s decision.
”It is pragmatic for us to now extend our code-share agreement with Air Pacific and deploy our 767 aircraft onto higher yielding routes, particularly given the ongoing operational pressures such as the high cost of jet fuel,” said ANZ general manager UK & Europe, Scott Carr.
Air Pacific operates 747-400 aircraft on the LA-Nadi route, configured with 28 business and 452 economy class seats.
Carr insists that ANZ remains committed to maintaining a strong presence in the Pacific: ”The new code share agreements on Air Pacific”s six services a week operated by a 747, represent a 10% capacity increase on the Los Angeles-Nadi route,” he said.
Arrangements are in hand for passengers already booked or ticketed on affected flights to be rebooked onto the new code share services or onto ANZ flights via Auckland.