Air New Zealand will suspend its Christchurch to Gold Coast service from November through to March next year, the New Zealand Herald reported, citing a number of factors that have impacted the carrier’s operational capacity.
The carrier’s chief commercial officer Jeremy O’Brien told the media outlet that the airline had “made the difficult decision to introduce a seasonal suspension on its Christchurch to Gold Coast services”, stating that the decision was influenced by “ongoing demand and market conditions, along with our wider fleet constraints”.
The airline has been widely impacted by aircraft groundings, which have stemmed from global maintenance requirements on the Pratt & Whitney and Rolls-Royce engines that power the airline’s Airbus and 787 fleets.
In February, then Air New Zealand CEO Greg Foran noted that he believed it would be another two to three years until the airline's fleet is back to normal, expecting 11 aircraft - six narrowbody and five widebody - to be grounded during the second half of the fiscal year at any given time.
Air New Zealand's Christchurch to Gold Coast connection is the third international service to have been suspended after its engine difficulties.