Air NZ flights between Fiji and Cook Islands to stop in Oct

Sad to hear this. But it was considered a possibility when Air NZ re-did their Tahiti connection a few months ago.

This will really impact, for better or worse, the number of backpackers who will be visiting the Cooks, as many arrived each week on that flight from Fiji.

And will also impact greatly on the many Fijians working here, as the cost to visit home (or be visited from home) will rise considerably now that they will have to travel through Auckland...

Air NZ seems to do all it can to isolate the Cooks from the rest of the region.
I do hope (and even trust!) that Air Pacific will fill in the gap.

Laszlo---Good point. Air Pacific actually DID have a service it started a few years ago, from Aust to Fiji, then on to RAR and Tahiti. Unfortunately there was a coup about a week after the service started. The firs flight after the coup had 7 pax, the next---and final one---had 2.

But it does show it is, or can be, viable. Fiji is the reginal headquarters for most international bodies, the USP, etc., so there is a buil-in market to some extent for govt and NGO visitors.

The real affect will be in tourism, it seems. With Tahiti now having to be visited on a separate ticket--or via AKL--- and now Fiji also being only available on a separate and costlier extra ticket as well (or via AKL), the Cooks will lose some tourists who like to do a bit of island-hopping. They can still hit the Cooks from N.Am. on the way down, and Fiji on the way back. but in practice most NA vistors will just pick one or the other in one direction or the other. The same goes for NZ/Aust visitors, they--esp. Aust. vistors--may just hit Fiji.

Air NZ has always had about 95% of the muscle in the area, so small places like the Cooks will always be vulnerable to this type of re-alignment, and even more so when aviation fuel costs rise and smaller airlines can only compete on regional routes at fairly high prices.

Such is life in a small place. It could be worse. Tuvalu has a similar population to the Cooks, but since it's not on a major air route, it gets maybe 10% of the tourists that visit the Cooks.

Anyway, Air Pacific may try something, and I'm sure the CI govt will be checking this out.

Shame! Also a shame that the non-stops from LAX (in off peak months) only go to Raro once a week so it's either a 5 or 10 night stay for NA's in the Cooks. I know lots of people who used the RAR-Nadi stops as well....Wonder when we'll ONE airline to spin around the islands easily? Probably when there are too many tourists. Ah well, Air Tahiti flies once a week to Raro from Papeete now though...at least through Dec at this writing.

sunny regards,
shully

Actually, Shully, Air Tahiti in code share with Air Rarotonga fly to Raro twice a week at the moment - Tuesday and Saturday. I wouldn't be surprised though if this doesn't last - the flights have been very quiet and the Saturday flights have been heavily discounted lately in an attempt to fill them up.