Flying Air NZ soon? Your flight could be cancelled due to the fuel crisis

If you've got plans to catch a plane on our national carrier any time in the next couple of months, you should prepare to make some changes to your itinerary.

Air NZ has announced it will cancel around 1100 upcoming flights through to early May because of jet fuel price increases due to the conflict in the Middle East. 

44,000 passengers will be affected by cancellations, but most of them will be moved to flights on the same day. 

Chief Executive Nikil Ravishankar told RNZ that no routes will be canned altogether, but services will be cut "proportionally across the board", meaning both international and domestic flights.  

Ravishankar told RNZ "maintaining regional connectivity is very high on the agenda" and off-peak services would be the focus of the cuts. Exactly which flights will be cancelled hasn't been announced yet. 

Spikes in fuel prices are normal in the airline industry, but the one caused by the US-Israeli war with Iran is causing "unprecedented volatility".  

The International Energy Agency agreed to release 400 million barrels of oil - more than it ever has before - to try to combat the soaring oil prices.  

Air NZ already announced an increase in fares earlier this week, warning it may be forced to do so again in the near future. The price of fuel has fluctuated wildly since the conflict broke out, at times climbing more than 120 per cent.

"We know how important air travel is to New Zealand," an Air NZ spokesperson told rova. 

"In making these schedule changes, we have tried to strike a balance between maintaining connectivity to all regions and our ability to reaccommodate passengers close to their original booking."

Anyone impacted by flight cancellations during this period will be reaccommodated and will be eligible for a refund or credit if they are unable to fly.