NZ: Airlines set pricing to entice anxious customers and recoup financial damage

Airlines will be offering affordable fares to New Zealand after a three-week booking freeze lifts to entice anxious travellers and recoup losses caused by the government directive, an aviation expert says. A surge in the number of Kiwis returning home to seek refuge from the worsening coronavirus pandemic has been putting New Zealand’s quarantine facilities under immense strain. To manage the flow of returning Kiwis and ensure quarantine facilities are not overwhelmed the Government ordered airlines to stop taking inbound international bookings for the next three weeks. The hope is by the end of that three weeks there will be enough new quarantine facilities and existing capacity freed up to accept new arrivals. However, the three-week time frame could be extended. Fewer than 50 passenger flights arrive in New Zealand per week, with just five carriers operating inbound international services: Air New Zealand, Emirates, Singapore Airlines, China Southern and China Eastern. All five confirmed they have stopped taking bookings for the next three weeks. Aviation consultant Irene King said airfares would be affordable after the three-week ban because airlines would be trying repair the commercial damage done by the booking freeze. “The only way passengers are going to travel is if the price is right, literally, because everything else is so uncertain,” King said.<br/>