Air New Zealand ramps up domestic flights to 90 per cent of schedule

by James Wilkinson

Air New Zealand is ramping up its domestic schedule during the upcoming school holidays to almost 90 percent of pre-COVID-19 levels.

Air New Zealand General Manager Networks, Scott Carr, says when you consider that prior to COVID-19, at least 20 percent of passengers on the airline’s domestic network were international visitors, it’s very apparent that more Kiwis than ever are taking the opportunity to travel the country.

“They will be giving a boost to local tourism operators, accommodation providers and rental car companies, and Air New Zealand is proud to be a part of that,” he says.

“We’ve added capacity to the majority of our routes in the two-week holiday period. We’re operating 1000 extra one-way flights these school holidays compared with the July break.

Air New Zealand says Queenstown is in hot demand for travellers

“We are also offering even more capacity over the school holidays on our Queenstown routes when compared with the same time last year and the July school holidays, with more than 73,000 seats available in and out of the resort town.

“Overall capacity to and from Queenstown will operate at 125 percent during the holidays compared to the same school holiday period last year,” he says.

Overall, in October the airline’s domestic schedule will be operating at nearly 85 percent of pre-COVID-19 levels.

Air New Zealand is also requiring face coverings/masks on all domestic flights while Auckland remains at Alert Level 2.

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