Carry On: Buenos Aires beckons, all points to Santiago

Flying high, executive style
Brazilian planemaker Embraer is showing off it Phenom 300 executive jet in New Zealand next week. The tentative programme for potential buyers and users is two days at Auckland on April 10-11 and Christchurch on April 12. By all accounts, the Phenom 300 is getting rave reviews, including Robb’s Report’s Best of the Best 2011 Award. From Auckland, it will reach most of the main centres on Australia’s eastern coast, New Caledonia, Fiji and Samoa.

Will Buenos Aires beckon?
The door has opened for Air New Zealand to look more seriously at its first South American route. News this week that Aerolineas Argentinas is dropping its Auckland stopover for passengers from July 1 provides the opportunity. While the thrice-weekly service between Buenos Aires and Sydney will still stop for refuelling, it will leave New Zealand travellers, as well as those coming here from Argentina and further afield, with fewer options.

All points to Santiago
LAN's daily services from Santiago will continue through Auckland while codeshare partner and fellow Qneworld member Qantas is rerouting its South American touchdown from Buenos Aires to Santiago with three weekly direct Boeing 747 services. Qantas is hopeful the move will follow the same pattern as its other recent move, from San Francisco to Dallas-Fort Worth, where it increased frequencies from four to six a week after six months, with the intention of going daily from July. Meanwhile, LAN, which uses two-class Airbus A340-300 flights on the Auckland-Sydney service, is hoping to switch to Boeing 787 Dreamliners. LAN also it’s the three additional Qantas services means it can now offer 10 frequencies into its major hub, which can take travellers to more places in South America.

Christchurch out, Sydney in
AirAsia X has wasted little time in starting its new daily flights between Sydney and Kuala Lumpur, now that Christchurch is being phased out. Other Australian destinations for the super-cheap airline are Perth, the Gold Coast and Melbourne. AirAsia X's chief executive, Azran Osman-Rani, said the Malaysian carrier plans to increase its workload from Sydney next year, increasing flights to twice daily to take advantage of the strong Australian dollar and local demand for cheap flights to southeast Asia. He says the airline has already sold 100,000 tickets from Sydney to Kuala Lumpur up to next January. They were put on the market at $A99.

One piece policy spreads
Qantas is introducing changes to its international checked baggage policy next month, moving from a weight system to a piece and weight system. The changes provide customers with a simplified policy and better alignment with the Qantas domestic checked baggage policy, which introduced the system in June 2011. Other Oneworld carriers such as British Airways and American Airlines also use it. Customers with bags exceeding their checked baggage allowance (except for travel from Japan) can pre-purchase additional baggage allowance at discounted rates online at qantas.com before travel and Qantas Frequent Flyers can pay using points. The policy will apply to all tickets issued on or after May 2 for Qantas international flights and Oneworld partner flights with a QF flight number. Details are here.

Staying at home
Staying close to home is a popular option for Easter. The latest Wotif.co.nz travel survey of more than 8000 Kiwis found 47% are planning local and domestic travel this long weekend while nearly a third (31%) are going no further than their couch. General manager Megan Magill says Auckland is the most favoured destination, followed closely by Taupo and Wellington. “A city break in Auckland or Wellington is popular but it’s also one last chance to take a break at Taupo and enjoy the lake before winter arrives,” she says.