Bay of Plenty passengers looking to fly at the last-minute have lost one solution with Air New Zealand announcing it has scrapped its standby seats.

The airline carrier says the fares will be ending on May 5 with travellers no longer able to catch cheap flights between domestic airports if seats are available 30 minutes from departure.

The standby seats cost $69 one way, except for between Auckland and Queenstown, or Auckland and Dunedin that cost $89, but it is believed the decision is driven by customer demand.

Air New Zealand is trying to offset the loss of the ticketing option saying last week's announcement offering an additional 100,000 grab-a-seat fares across the entire domestic network during this year on both main trunk routes and regional routes is positive.

Air New Zealand spokesperson Kelly Kilgour says the introduction of the additional fares comes as a result of the airline continuing to invest in seven new regional ATR aircraft.

'This will see an additional two million seats into the regional market so passengers can expect to see more bargain fares available on regional routes including Tauranga and Rotorua.”

Air New Zealand group general manager of New Zealand and Pacific Islands Cam Wallace says these announcements are just part of a series of initiatives that will encourage more Kiwis than ever to travel on the national airline.

"Kiwis are loving how we are making travel more affordable than ever on our domestic and international services. Already this year we've offered destinations such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Osaka and Honolulu for $399 or less one way and customers can expect to see more ludicrous deals like these popping up.

'Air New Zealand is committed to helping grow our nation's economy. The purchase of seven new generation ATR 72-600 aircraft for Air New Zealand's Mt Cook fleet will add up to two million additional regional seats into the market. Further domestic capacity is also being added with the transition of the jet fleet from B737-300 aircraft to larger capacity A320s.”

He says the arrival and entry into the service of the first two ATR aircraft alongside the four A320 aircraft already servicing domestic routes means Kiwi travellers can now reap the benefits through more 'ludicrously cheap” fares.