Air New Zealand has cut 5 percent of flights and will start to consolidate other routes after the July school holidays, chief executive Nikhil Ravishankar says.

It comes as the airline is expecting a full-year pre-tax loss of between $340 and $390 million due to the soaring cost of jet fuel.

Ravishankar gave an example of two half-full planes being one flight. The affected flights would be in the middle of the day or other "non-peak" flying times.

International routes would be cut, but the company was still working on that and would let people know in June.

A previously planned London route would not take off next year.

Ravishankar said they were working out demand forecasts, which was difficult in the current environment with fuel prices being high.

The majority of the cost-cutting being targeted was not jobs, but roles could be cut.

Losses would not be to frontline staff, but to support staff.

Ravishankar said the airline was not looking for any financial assistance from the government.