Air New Zealand has made further cuts to flights in and out of Nelson as fuel prices continue to remain high.
The cuts were announced on Thursday, with 70 further flights slashed on top of an already reduced schedule.
Nelson Mayor Nick Smith labelled the news "disappointing" for the region.
On Thursday, Nick said a further 23 flights were being cut between Nelson and Auckland, 32 to and from Wellington, and 15 to and from Christchurch, with Air NZ citing ongoing high costs for jet fuel.
The cut flights are between 29 June and 26 July.
"This is the third time Nelson flights to and from Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch have been axed temporarily since the war in Iran started and brings the total number of flights lost to 266 or about 12,000 seats," he said.
Nick said the latest cuts reduced seat capacity for Auckland by 8.7 per cent, Christchurch by 10.3 per cent and Wellington by 15.2 per cent over the four weeks.
"This is likely to affect seat availability and prices as well as reduce Air NZ's ability to manage disruptions including weather-related delays and cancellations.
"This is disappointing news for Nelson. While it is understandable, with no concrete signs of de-escalation of the oil crisis in the Middle East, it will have an impact on the number of visitors to the region and make it more difficult for people travelling for work, to access healthcare and take holidays outside the region," he added.
"The loss of flights will also have a negative effect on council's finances as a 50 per cent owner in Nelson Airport Ltd."
Nick repeated earlier concerns about the region's tourism.
"I continue to encourage Nelson people considering taking a holiday in the next couple of months to think about options locally such as Golden Bay, Abel Tasman or Nelson Lakes to help our local tourism sector."
Air New Zealand told RNZ that it had made a small number of schedule changes because of the ongoing impact of high fuel costs.
"These consolidations affect around 2 per cent of passengers due to travel across this period," the airline said.
"We've targeted the consolidations to minimise disruption and to ensure that the vast majority of impacted customers can still travel on the same day."
With RNZ
