Air New Zealand has released a limited international schedule through to 30 June 2021 on the back of ongoing travel restrictions and low passenger demand due to the pandemic.

Routes remaining open include flights from Auckland to Nadi (Fiji), Niue, Rarotonga (Cook Islands), Apia (Samoa) and Tonga, as well as long-haul services to Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tokyo and Seoul.

Flights to Norfolk Island from both Brisbane and Sydney will also continue to operate.

Air New Zealand’s General Manager Networks, Scott Carr, says the airline has been progressively updating its schedule over the past 12 months in response to the global pandemic and the schedule aims to keep air links open for essential travel and cargo movement on key trade routes.

“Our schedule is driven by a number of factors including airport takeoff and landing slots which generally operate on a ‘use it or lose it’ basis,” he says. “This means if you don’t fly the majority of your schedule you may lose access to airports.

“We have been waiting to receive slot alleviation for the April to end of June period, which means our regular slot times are protected even if we can’t fly them all.

“As this is now progressing, we are now able to move ahead with adapting our schedule through to 30 June to better reflect the low demand environment we are currently operating in.

“We understand these are very uncertain times and it can be tricky for people looking to get home with a lot of things needing to line up including flights, testing and managed isolation bookings.

“We feel a responsibility to ensure Kiwis can come home and are doing our best to make this happen as smoothly as possible. We strongly recommend customers check government border restrictions for the relevant countries and/or individual passport requirements before booking a ticket.”