1 00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:03,760 Speaker 1: Good afternoon. Jetstar is cutting flights to New Zealand. About 2 00:00:03,800 --> 00:00:06,560 Speaker 1: twelve percent of their trans Tasman routes in May are gone, 3 00:00:06,640 --> 00:00:09,360 Speaker 1: and this includes flights between Auckland and Sydney and Auckland 4 00:00:09,360 --> 00:00:11,440 Speaker 1: and Brisbane. It is, of course, the jet fuel costs 5 00:00:11,440 --> 00:00:14,560 Speaker 1: that are to blame. Jeffrey Thomas is an aviation commentator 6 00:00:14,560 --> 00:00:16,720 Speaker 1: out of Perth and the founder of Daily Airline News 7 00:00:16,760 --> 00:00:17,279 Speaker 1: and with US Hi. 8 00:00:17,360 --> 00:00:19,799 Speaker 2: Jeffrey, Greetingsir Heather. 9 00:00:20,040 --> 00:00:21,759 Speaker 1: Why are they cutting trans Tasman routes? 10 00:00:21,800 --> 00:00:27,560 Speaker 2: First? Okay, so with low cost airlines they're very price sensitive, 11 00:00:27,600 --> 00:00:30,760 Speaker 2: as we know, they've got the much cheap affairs. The 12 00:00:31,160 --> 00:00:36,120 Speaker 2: problem then becomes their passengers typically don't want to pay 13 00:00:36,159 --> 00:00:42,000 Speaker 2: that extra fuel costs on their airfare, and so low 14 00:00:42,040 --> 00:00:45,239 Speaker 2: cost airlines all around the world are cutting back on 15 00:00:45,360 --> 00:00:50,000 Speaker 2: services and consolidating services because of the impact of the 16 00:00:50,440 --> 00:00:55,320 Speaker 2: additional fuel cost, whereas premium carriers are less impacted because 17 00:00:55,800 --> 00:00:58,720 Speaker 2: they're the tolerance of their passengers for a higher fair 18 00:00:58,840 --> 00:00:59,440 Speaker 2: is much greater. 19 00:01:00,040 --> 00:01:04,760 Speaker 1: Would you expect to see them also chart domistically within Australia. 20 00:01:05,120 --> 00:01:09,200 Speaker 2: Look, it's certainly possible they will be looking to conserve 21 00:01:09,280 --> 00:01:12,960 Speaker 2: fuel wherever they can obviously, and again the same price 22 00:01:13,040 --> 00:01:18,640 Speaker 2: sensitivity applies in Australia, as New Zealand, as around the world. Yes, 23 00:01:18,680 --> 00:01:22,360 Speaker 2: they'll certainly be looking to do some pairing back, and 24 00:01:22,440 --> 00:01:24,920 Speaker 2: at the same time, you know, premium carriers are also 25 00:01:25,000 --> 00:01:29,880 Speaker 2: looking to consolidate services where they can. If one particular 26 00:01:29,959 --> 00:01:33,640 Speaker 2: flight or a couple of flights are not full, then 27 00:01:33,680 --> 00:01:36,160 Speaker 2: they'll say, look, how can we save some fuel here 28 00:01:36,200 --> 00:01:38,680 Speaker 2: and save some fuel there. So I think that's going 29 00:01:38,720 --> 00:01:42,160 Speaker 2: to be an ongoing situation as long as this problem 30 00:01:42,160 --> 00:01:43,240 Speaker 2: occurs in the Middle East. 31 00:01:43,360 --> 00:01:45,800 Speaker 1: Okay, they say it's temporary. What does temporary mean? 32 00:01:45,880 --> 00:01:50,480 Speaker 2: Do you think? Well, that's a very good question, and 33 00:01:50,560 --> 00:01:53,720 Speaker 2: normally you, under normal circumstances you could make a really 34 00:01:53,840 --> 00:01:56,640 Speaker 2: fairly good educated guess. But I think at the moment 35 00:01:56,640 --> 00:02:00,200 Speaker 2: everybody would agree we don't have a normal circumstances at all. 36 00:02:00,680 --> 00:02:04,640 Speaker 2: With some of the folks that are involved in this. However, 37 00:02:04,800 --> 00:02:07,520 Speaker 2: I think pressure is being applied. I think there's some 38 00:02:07,600 --> 00:02:11,120 Speaker 2: dynamics that are playing out domestically in the United States 39 00:02:11,120 --> 00:02:14,800 Speaker 2: with soaring fuel prices and the economies in serious trouble, 40 00:02:15,360 --> 00:02:18,040 Speaker 2: and therefore the pressure is being applied to end this 41 00:02:18,200 --> 00:02:22,080 Speaker 2: conflict as quickly as possible. We've also got Russia and 42 00:02:22,200 --> 00:02:25,600 Speaker 2: China putting on immense pressure as well to bring this 43 00:02:25,720 --> 00:02:30,119 Speaker 2: to a close, and we are getting indications that some 44 00:02:30,200 --> 00:02:34,440 Speaker 2: discussions supposedly are taking place or some reaching out. So 45 00:02:34,480 --> 00:02:38,400 Speaker 2: to answer your question, I'm hoping that in the next 46 00:02:38,400 --> 00:02:41,480 Speaker 2: two to three weeks we may see this situation abating. 47 00:02:42,320 --> 00:02:46,400 Speaker 2: How long it would then take for the fuel supply 48 00:02:46,560 --> 00:02:49,800 Speaker 2: line to normalize, You're probably talking a couple of months 49 00:02:49,840 --> 00:02:53,120 Speaker 2: before that starts to get back to normal and the 50 00:02:53,160 --> 00:02:56,640 Speaker 2: pricing hopefully returns to something that's reasonable. 51 00:02:56,919 --> 00:02:58,400 Speaker 1: Jeffery, it's been really good to talk to you. Thank 52 00:02:58,400 --> 00:03:00,639 Speaker 1: you for your time. That's Jeffrey Thomas, aviation and commentator, 53 00:03:00,720 --> 00:03:02,840 Speaker 1: founder of Daily Airline News. 54 00:03:03,320 --> 00:03:06,480 Speaker 2: For more from Hither Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to 55 00:03:06,600 --> 00:03:09,640 Speaker 2: news talks it'd be from four pm weekdays, or follow 56 00:03:09,680 --> 00:03:11,440 Speaker 2: the podcast on iHeartRadio.