Virgin Australia bursts the Kiwi bubble

Virgin Australia continued to sell flights to New Zealand for two weeks after making a decision to postpone the services.

Virgin Australia’s fleet of 58 Boeing 737s is behind the decision to postpone flights to New Zealand for four months. Picture: Brendan Radke

Virgin Australia continued to sell flights on trans-Tasman routes for two weeks after a business recommendation was made for the airline to postpone the services until it had more aeroplanes.

The Australian understands the flights were removed from the airline’s inventory only on Monday night, hours before New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced the start of a two-way travel bubble on April 19.

It was only after the announcement that Virgin Australia revealed the flights would not go ahead as planned from June 19 but would be pushed back until October 31, or September 18 in the case of some Queenstown flights.

The airline said the decision was made because of “evolving border requirements adding complexity to the business” and the need to use limited aircraft on rebuilding domestic routes.

The move dumbfounded travellers who had booked flights to New Zealand in anticipation that a bubble would be established by mid-year.

Brisbane barrister Jeff Hunter said he booked seats with Virgin Australia last December to travel to Queenstown in August and was “over the moon” when Ms Ardern announced the bubble would begin in a fortnight.

“My son and I were high-­fiving, punching the air, we were so happy,” Mr Hunter said. “Then we heard the news on television that Virgin Australia had postponed its flights. We were crushed. They didn’t even send an email to inform us.”

Others took to social media to air their frustration, including former Air New Zealand executive Cam Wallace, who described Virgin Australia’s decision as “strange”.

“They will miss out on the massive pent-up demand, especially from the Brisbane hub, for school holidays and ski season,” Mr Wallace said.

It’s understood Virgin Australia wanted to wait until new leases on eight or nine extra aircraft were finalised before resuming trans-Tasman flights.

A spokesman said relatively few passengers were affected by the postponement and the airline was seeking to re-accommodate them on Air New Zealand flights, or provide a full refund.

Mr Hunter said he would be unlikely to book with Virgin Australia again. “I still have travel credits from other (cancelled) flights that I haven’t been able to use. I’ve given up even trying to use them,” he said.

At the same time, Qantas, Jetstar and Air New Zealand were seeing huge demand for trans-Tasman flights in the wake of the bubble announcement.

Air New Zealand services between Sydney-Auckland, Brisbane-Auckland and Melbourne-Christchurch in the first week of the bubble were selling out fast, and bookings in May were strong.

Air New Zealand chief executive officer Greg Foran said there was a healthy uptake of seats on both sides of the Tasman. “While a lot of Kiwis are heading across the ditch, there have been really strong bookings for Australians coming to check out New Zealand,” he said. “Queenstown will see an influx of Aussies in July and September and we expect to see a bigger boost around the country for the July school holidays. It’s promising to be a busy ski season for the mountains.”