• - Air New Zealand has released 750,000 domestic one-way fares from $59
• - Jetstar has put 15,000 international flights from New Zealand on sale
• - Air NZ CEO Greg Foran said the airline’s cost base had increased more than 30% since 2020

Air New Zealand and Jetstar both announced sales this week but a consumer watchdog says flights are almost 300% higher than four years ago.

It’s a battle of the bargains this week as Air New Zealand and Jetstar launched sales within a day of one another, promoting domestic flights from $59 and one-way trans-Tasman flights from $135.

Yesterday, Air New Zealand released 750,000 domestic one-way fares priced from $59 to $99.

The tickets cover a range of cities in Aotearoa and prices apply in both directions, so expensive return flights won’t catch travellers out.

On sale until midnight July 24, the tickets must be used during five travel periods between September 2024 and February 2025.

The three most expensive routes, starting at $99 each way, are Auckland to Queenstown, Dunedin, and Invercargill.

Today, Jetstar launched a sale 24 hours later, releasing 15,000 discounted one-way fares.

The sale runs until midnight on Monday, July 22. Like Air New Zealand, Jetstar travellers must travel during specific periods, which vary by route but run from August 2024 to mid-June 2025.

The sale includes several routes between major New Zealand cities and Australia or Pacific destinations such as Auckland to Sydney from $135, Wellington to Gold Coast from $159 or Auckland to Rarotonga from $169.

Return flights are not included in the sale. For example, travellers can purchase a September flight from Auckland to Gold Coast for $169 and a return flight one week later for $262.

Discounted fares will likely be appreciated by travellers, who are paying three times as much for flights compared to 2019 and 2021, according to Consumer NZ.

The consumer watchdog recently compared fares from 11 Air New Zealand flights from 2019 to 2021 with equivalent flights in 2023 and 2024. One flight had dropped in price but the rest were more expensive, with prices up 34% to 297%.

It wasn’t great news for those who must fly domestically and could be reassuring for those who had suspected prices were higher than before.

“It’s no surprise that New Zealand consumers are questioning how and why flight prices have increased so much over the past few years”.

The airline addressed the increased domestic prices in May during the country’s largest international tourism business event, Trenz.

Air New Zealand chief executive Greg Foran said the airline was in “a challenging environment” regarding costs and did not expect airfares to drop on their own.

The consumer analysis explored a “range of scenarios” and original booking details were mimicked as closely as possible regarding lead-in time, flight time, days abroad and baggage.

In 2021, a return flight to Hamilton for two adults and no luggage, booked two days beforehand, cost $281.20. Fast forward three years and the same flight was $1118.00.

An international flight from Sydney to Palmerston North booked two days before flying for a family of four cost $1372 in March 2020. Today, the price is more than double, at $3451.

Flights made a month in advance were still twice (or in one case, three times) more expensive now compared to 2019 and 2020.

When asked about the increase, Air New Zealand said the airline’s cost base had increased more than 30% since 2020 and “significant cost inflation” had been a challenge.

People regularly complain to Consumer NZ about the cost of flying, Damen said, as well as issues with cancelled flights.

Foran recently told Kerre Woodham on Newstalk ZB that although the airline’s cancellation rates were falling, there was work to do regarding delays.

The cancellation rate was at 3.2% of all flights and punctuality was improving, he said.