Brent Thomas: House of Travel chief operating officer on Air New Zealand pausing flights between Auckland and New Caledonia

Air New Zealand has stopped flights between Auckland and New Caledonia's Nouméa for the next few months.

The airline will look to resume flights at the end of September.

The decision comes amid ongoing uncertainty in the island nation following political unrest.

House of Travel chief operating officer Brent Thomas says it isn't a major destination for New Zealanders.

"Having said that, there'll be a few hundred people who are interrupted - they were expecting to have a holiday in the sun through our winter, but will no longer be able to make it."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Togever Do for Zea Islands.

Speaker 2 (00:02):
The New Zealand has suspended all of its flights to
New Mia, New Caledonia until the end of September. It's
because the violence still continues. Eight people have now died.
Some streets over there are still barricaded by the pro
independence protesters. Now passengers who are booked with their New
Zealand can either have their flight held in credit or
they can get themselves a full refund. Brent Thomas is
the chief operating officer of House of Travelers with US.

Speaker 3 (00:22):
Now, Hey, Brent good evening, Heather, how.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
Many people would be traveling to New Caledonia between now
and then? How many people are affected?

Speaker 3 (00:29):
So it's not a major destination from New Zealand such
as cg or the Cook Islands. Having said that, there
will be a few hundred people though, who are interrupted
and who are expecting to have a holiday in the
sun through our winter but will no longer be able
to make it.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
Are other airlines doing the same.

Speaker 3 (00:45):
Thing, Well, there's only here Carlleen who that flies there
as well. So we've got the situation where we've got
a lack of capacity and so people are now going
to have to think about are they going to get
a refund, are they going to rebook to go somewhere else?
And if they're we're booking to go somewhere else, places
like Fiji and the cook Irons and I start filling
up pretty quickly. Given the call with it that we're

(01:06):
now experiencing, do.

Speaker 2 (01:07):
You suspect that New Zealand may in fact be quite
happy to pause the flights because if there aren't that
many travelers it might not be that lucrative.

Speaker 3 (01:14):
Well, that's up to the airline to decide what they do.
But obviously in your zone, and it's not their fault,
have got engine problems and so therefore they have got
a limited capacity in terms of those aircraft. So it
may be an opportunity for them to redeploy their aircraft
in a better environment. But that's something that the new
zones have to comment on, brit.

Speaker 2 (01:32):
I mean, getting your refund on the airline is one
thing and people will be stoked about that, but what
about the hotels are they refunding?

Speaker 3 (01:39):
Well, that's the situation that we're going to have to
deal with on a case by case basis as to
what people want to do and what refunds they can get,
so there's no one blanket for that and we'll just
have to deal with them as they come through. It's
obviously something that has an impact because of the Air
new Zone decision and so people will be looking to
work out what they can do and where can they

(02:00):
guy for their holidays.

Speaker 2 (02:01):
Brent, thank you very much, really appreciate your time.

Speaker 3 (02:03):
Mate.

Speaker 2 (02:03):
There's Brent Thomas, House of Travel, Chief Operating Officer.

Speaker 1 (02:07):
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