Air NZ Adding 11 LAX-Australia Flights

September 22, 1:46 am ET WELLINGTON (Dow Jones)--Air New Zealand said
Monday it will introduce 11 new flights a week between New Zealand and
Australia, in a further sign of intensified competition on the trans
Tasman route.

Some of the new flights, which start Oct. 29, will use Airbus A320
twinjet aircraft, with the first of 15 ordered by the airline having
arrived last week.

The biggest increase in flights is to Melbourne with an additional six
a week, Air New Zealand said in a statement. Sydney also gets another
three flights and Brisbane gets two.

Last week Qantas Airways announced it was cutting trans Tasman fares
and Virgin Blue unit Pacific Blue said it would start flying the trans
Tasman route from February next year.

Those moves followed Air New Zealand announcing lower fares between
Australia and New Zealand through the extension of its discount
domestic business model to the trans Tasman route. ####

I guess the subject line was wishful thinking...