Pacific Blue Announces Early Take Off With $9 Fare

MEDIA RELEASE

Pacific Blue Announces Early Take Off With $9 Fare

Friday, 19 October 2007: New Zealand’s newest domestic airline Pacific Blue is offering $9* ‘Ready-Set-Go’ fares to celebrate the announcement that its local flights are taking off early.

Pacific Blue says its domestic services will start three days earlier than the previously announced date of 15 November, with travellers now able to book flights from 12 November 2007.

3,000 seats will be on sale from 10am Saturday 20 October to midnight Monday 22 October or until sold out, for the special price of $9*. The fares are for travel 12-13 November on the airline’s three domestic routes: Auckland-Wellington, Auckland-Christchurch, and Wellington-Christchurch.

The airline’s General Manager Commercial, Adrian Hamilton-Manns, said Pacific Blue is committed to making domestic services more affordable for New Zealanders and the $9* fares are a great way to celebrate the early arrival of the airline at the country’s domestic terminals.

“When we announced our domestic services in August we had an immediate and dramatic impact on the cost of local air travel,” he said. “Over 100,000 New Zealanders snapped up our $39 fares, and our competitors immediately dropped their lead-in fares to match ours.”

“To celebrate our early launch and to say thank you to all New Zealanders for supporting us, we decided to offer a $9 sale fare for the first couple of days of flying. So for less than the price of a pizza delivery, thousands of Kiwis have the chance to be among the first Guests on our new domestic services.”

Mr Hamilton-Manns said the company’s strategy in New Zealand is based on giving travellers easy access to low fares, friendly service, and a strong range of supporting products.

“In August when Pacific Blue announced it would fly domestically in New Zealand, competitors dropped their lead-in fares by up to 30 percent. Our promise to New Zealanders is that we’re here to keep the air fair, and that if they want a great deal on their domestic travel, they should always check Pacific Blue first.”

The airline says Guests on Pacific Blue domestic services will enjoy many of the same benefits as on its international flights.

“When they board our fleet of modern Boeing 737 Next-Generation aircraft our Guests will enjoy leather seats, international class legroom with an average seat pitch of 80.5 centimetres (31.5 inches), audio music channels, and of course great service from our friendly crew members,” said Adrian Hamilton-Manns.

Guests on domestic flights will be able to earn Points with the airline’s award-winning Velocity program on every dollar spent on their Virgin Blue, Pacific Blue or Polynesian Blue fare, and redeem Points on every available seat on its New Zealand, Australian, and Pacific Island network, as well as on airline partners such as Emirates and Malaysian Airlines.

“Velocity is free to join on-line. Like our low fares, our rewards program is another area where we aim to be fair to our Guests.”

Pacific Blue is adding two new Boeing 737 Next-Generation aircraft to its fleet in early November, with an additional aircraft due early in 2008.

*$9 fares are one-way on the net and are on sale from 10am Saturday 20 October to midnight Monday 22 October or until sold out, for travel on 12 and 13 November 2007 on Pacific Blue’s New Zealand domestic routes. For full terms and conditions details visit www.flypacificblue.com

About Pacific Blue, Polynesian Blue, and Virgin Blue Airlines, and Velocity Rewards

Pacific Blue and Polynesian Blue, along with Australian domestic airline Virgin Blue, operate a fleet of 55 modern Boeing 737 aircraft flying to 22 Australian destinations and destinations throughout the South Pacific including New Zealand, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu and the Cook Islands. Velocity is operated by Velocity Rewards Pty Ltd as trustee of the Loyalty Trust. Membership of Velocity is subject to the Velocity Terms and Conditions of Membership available online at www.velocityrewards.co.nz

ends

© Scoop Media