Is this the return of the 'golden era' of cheap flights? Air NZ runs major sale

Author: Sarah Pollok,
Publish Date: Tue, 9 Jan 2024, 1:14pm

Air New Zealand has announced a major sale on seats across its international network, confirming industry predictions that 2024 will bring lower airfares.

Today, the airline said “tens of thousands of seats” are now on sale and would be until Friday, January 19.

Flights from Auckland to Sydney are as low as $197 one way or $209 for Auckland to Melbourne. Further afield, Kiwis could get to the US for less than $550, with flights to Honolulu starting at $547 and LA from $697.

Air New Zealand general manager long haul Scott Carr said the beginning of the year was a perfect time to put international destinations on sale as it would help those planning 2024 travel.

“There’s no better way to start the year than to book an exciting holiday away to look forward to,” he said. However, not all flights or dates are on sale and customers are encouraged to check flights online.

This announcement validates the hypothesis made by Flight Centre’s general manager, Heidi Walker, in December.

With airline capacity back to around 90 per cent of pre-Covid levels, Walker said New Zealanders would have more choice and thus competition when it came to flights in 2024.

“Though prices are still not back to ‘golden era’ levels, we are starting to see some sharp deals come to market and as capacity continues to increase and demand normalises further,” Walker said.

Walker said the industry expected to see prices come down even more by the end of 2024.

ASB economists agree that pricing pressures in the airline sector should cool further in the coming months.