Air New Zealand and Virgin Australia are boosting capacity between Australia and Queenstown to cater for the expected rise in demand during the upcoming ski season.
The carriers will add a total of 8% more capacity on the Melbourne-Queenstown, Sydney-Queenstown and Brisbane-Queenstown routes, offering a total of 18 weekly flights. Air New Zealand is also increasing its domestic capacity into Queenstown, with a 68% capacity increase from Wellington and an 18% rise from Auckland.
“Air New Zealand introduced year-round trans-Tasman flights between Sydney and Queenstown in 1998 and to see everyone’s marketing efforts in Australia continuing to build interest in the Southern Lakes district is tremendous. We know that the majority of Australians who are actively considering visiting New Zealand are interested in skiing – so our activities this season will be very much focused on converting these into ski-bums on seats,” said Air New Zealand’s General Manager for Australia, Cam Wallace.
Catering for Kiwis seeking some winter sun, the two airlines will also launch a new trans-Tasman service between Auckland and the Sunshine Coast. The service will operate twice between 1 July and 18 September.
