The New Zealand government has given the green light to Air New Zealand and Singapore Airlines’ (SIA) continuing their alliance for a further five years.
Under the partnership, which began in 2015, the pair codeshares on routes between New Zealand and Europe, India and Southeast Asia via Singapore.
The partnership also includes revenue sharing and coordination of capacity and pricing.
New Zealand transport minister Phil Twyford said reauthorisation of the alliance would result in more benefits to passengers.
“Reauthorisation of the alliance will result in more benefits to travellers. These benefits include a wider range of flight times, more seats and reciprocal frequent flyer schemes,” Twyford said in a statement on October 5.
“The services the airlines provide through the alliance strengthens New Zealand’s ties with our close neighbours in South East Asia and with other emerging markets throughout Asia.
When the alliance was first approved in late 2014, it paved the way for Air New Zealand to resume nonstop flights between Auckland and Singapore.
There has been further capacity increases since then, with SIA starting Singapore-Canberra-Wellington flights in 2017 and adding extra flights on the Singapore-Christchurch route.
In May 2018, SIA tweaked its Wellington services, switching the mid-point stopover from Canberra to Melbourne.
Meanwhile, the pair has added more frequencies on the Auckland-Singapore route and will have three nonstop flights a day from October 28 2018.
The two carriers said in a joint statement the alliance had increased seat capacity by more than 25 per cent between New Zealand and Singapore.
Further, it noted there would be 35 return flights a week between the two countries in the peak months.
“The decision to re-authorise the alliance reinforces the benefits it has delivered to the New Zealand market in its first four years,” SIA senior vice president for marketing and planning Tan Kai Ping said.
“We look forward to continue working closely with our alliance partner Air New Zealand, to provide even more travel options for our customers.”
Air New Zealand chief strategy, networks and alliances officer Nick Judd said the partnership with SIA had been “key to successfully growing Air New Zealand’s international network and delivering important benefits to our customers”.
“Singapore Airlines has been a strong alliance partner and we are excited at the opportunities the re-authorisation provides our two airlines,” Judd said.
