Air New Zealand is set to launch two new routes across the Tasman from December 2018 and add an extra 15% seat capacity across all its Tasman services year on year.

The increase of services across the Tasman comes after Air NZ ended its alliance with Virgin Australia last week.

From 18 December 2018, Air New Zealand will operate up to four times a week between Brisbane and the popular ski and tourist destination of Queenstown, increasing the airline’s total international capacity into the resort town by 20 percent.

It will also operate up to five times a week between Brisbane and the capital city of Wellington, a 15 percent increase or 20,000 seats.

The airline says these new services will increase Air New Zealand’s overall seat capacity into and out of Brisbane by 44 percent.

In addition to the new routes, Air New Zealand is adding significant extra trans-Tasman capacity into and out of Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney from both Auckland and Christchurch from October 28, 2018.

The airline will introduce additional services on both the Sydney-Auckland and Melbourne-Auckland routes, increasing seat capacity on each route by more than 45,000 seats. The airline will also boost capacity between Brisbane and Auckland by more than 15 percent through the introduction of additional morning services.

Air New Zealand will also move to double daily on peak days of the week from both Melbourne and Brisbane, and double daily Monday to Friday from Sydney. This represents a 15% increase in capacity or about 35,000 extra seats on Christchurch trans-Tasman routes alone.