Dunedin travellers returning by air from Brisbane face a late arrival next winter, with a planned schedule change meaning a landing time of 10 minutes after midnight.
Dunedin Airport has accepted the change will not suit everyone, and will mean some late nights for customs and airline support staff, but marketing and communications manager Megan Crawford said there were benefits.
They included travellers from airports such as Sydney and Melbourne, for instance, being able to travel to Brisbane during the day and still get to Dunedin just after midnight.
For international flights, people leaving Dunedin could get a connecting flight to Los Angeles via Brisbane.
Ms Crawford said the schedule change would be in place over the northern summer, and would begin on March 27.
The usual landing time in Dunedin for the Brisbane flight was 4pm.
The departure time from Dunedin would be earlier, at 8am.
Ms Crawford said the change had been decided by Virgin Australia, which flies the route in an alliance with Air New Zealand.
Despite the late arrival, the airport was comfortable with the change because of the increase in connectivity, she said.
She accepted the arrival time "might put the local market off'', but the benefits made it worthwhile.
"It means we're opening up the market a bit more in terms of where people can get to via Brisbane from Dunedin.
"It means we can use Brisbane as a gateway for us.''
It also meant late nights for customs and ground crews at the airport.
The airport had contacted those affected and explained why the changes were taking place.
"It's all about growth,'' Ms Crawford said.
"The more that we support changes, and the more that we promote them, it's a better story for us.''
The airline had decided to increase flights to Brisbane over the holiday period, which "shows the capacity is needed'', Ms Crawford said.
From December 18 to January 22, there would be an increase from three to four flights a week to Brisbane, an extra six in all.
