Today's Southland times...
Pacific Blue is expected to announce flights to Invercargill and Dunedin soon as it ramps up its domestic network by introducing a new aircraft.
The Christchurch-based Australian budget airline added main trunk domestic services to its trans-Tasman operation in November, forcing rivals Air New Zealand and Qantas to drop their cheapest standard fares by $20.
Pacific Blue will take delivery of a seventh 180-seat Boeing 737-800 at the end of next month.
This will allow the airline to increase its domestic fleet to three, and also increase capacity on the Tasman.
It is understood the Invercargill service would link to Auckland via Christchurch and the Dunedin service would likely be direct from Wellington.
Wellington was also expected to receive more flights to Australia.
Invercargill Airport chief executive Barry Bouton said he had been in negotiations with Pacific Blue over a protracted period.
"We are confident that they will be making some major announcements in our favour," he said.
Invercargill Mayor Tim Shadbolt said it would be fantastic if the airline confirmed flights to Invercargill.
He was unsure if such a move would impact on ticket prices but believed it would beneficial for freight in and out of the city.
There had been problems getting cyclists and their bikes into Invercargill for competitions at the city's velodrome.
Some competitors were having to travel to Queenstown and then on to Invercargill.
Additional flights might solve the problem, he said.
The decision would set up a head-to-head clash with Air New Zealand, which last month said it was considering the two southern centres for trial jet services using its smaller 136-seat Boeing 737-300s.
Air New Zealand said it would offer six-month trial services to at least two regional centres that could drum up enough support to make them profitable.
The others being considered were Hamilton and Palmerston North.
Air New Zealand head of short haul airlines, Bruce Parton, said passenger demand from the four cities was just below that required to be economical for a 737 or, in the case of Dunedin, additional jet services.
A final decision on which of the cities would receive the trials was expected next month.
A Virgin Blue spokeswoman said an announcement on either Invercargill or Dunedin as its next port would be made shortly.
However, industry sources said Pacific Blue would fly to both cities.
Air New Zealand has those routes to itself.
Qantas flies between the main centres and to Queenstown and Rotorua.
Virgin Blue chief executive Brett Godfrey said "as there is currently a monopoly provider of air travel to and from these cities we're looking forward to bringing some serious competition to the south".
"We have been reviewing several destinations for regional services but the combination of distance and lack of airline competition in Invercargill and Dunedin made those cities obvious contenders for consideration," Mr Godfrey said.
Thought it might provoke some more discussion to this dead thread. Interesting to note that since Pacific Blue started flying it's mere two jet aircraft and both Air NZ and Qantas hav announced service upgrades and reduced fares, domestic passeger numbers at the big 3 airports have been stimulated between 15-30% for the months of Nov 07 - Jan 08.
..are E- starting to appear as a real possibility....for Air NZ? I'm sure that if Pacific Blus starts flyingto Dunedin numbers there will show similar growth..Gotta be good news to travellers in that part of the world.