Qantas will lay on a third transtasman flight to Queenstown this summer for the second consecutive season in response to "high demand" from Australian holidaymakers.
The Australian carrier will introduce an additional service between Queenstown and Sydney airports on Sundays, between December 20, 2009, and February 14, 2010.
The extra service and the entry of Pacific Blue in September will mean eight flights weekly between Australia and Queenstown during the forthcoming peak summer season, twice as many as were scheduled last summer.
Qantas New Zealand and Pacific Islands regional general manager Grant Lilly said in a statement the new services were on top of the airline's recent capacity increase between Queenstown and Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne for the winter ski season.
"Qantas offers two year-round services between Sydney and Queenstown, and we traditionally increase our services from major capital cities to Queenstown during the winter season.
"We are pleased to be able to extend our support to Queenstown tourism by offering additional summer services."
The third flight is on top of the existing Qantas schedule. - One weekly Brisbane-Queenstown service on Saturdays during the winter season.
One weekly Melbourne-Queenstown service on Sundays during the winter season.
One weekly Sydney-Queenstown service on Sundays during the winter season.
Two Sydney-Queenstown services year-round on Wednesday and Saturdays.
One Sydney-Queenstown service on Sundays during the summer season.
Qantas uses Boeing 737-800s, which have 12 business class seats and 156 economy seats per aircraft.
The 737-800 fleet is equipped with Required Navigation Performance, which enhances an aircraft's ability to operate in marginal weather.
Low-cost subsidiary Jetstar took over the Qantas New Zealand domestic network on June 10.
Queenstown Airport Corporation (QAC) chief executive Steve Sanderson said the third summer flight was good for the airport and good for Queenstown.
"Obviously, the airlines are banking there are enough Australians over the summer period [to justify the extra flight]."
When asked how much money the additional flight would generate for the airport, Mr Sanderson said the corporation did not separate commercial revenue down to individual airlines and would not make it public.
He said the additional flights and passengers were well within airport capacity.
"We have seven gates [and] seven stands . . .
"The airport's designed for 560 passengers per hour and at our winter peak, we're running 400 per hour.
"The summer is not as busy as winter, so we drop to 200 to 250 per hour."
Mr Sanderson said the third flight addition supported QAC's noise-boundary plan change application, which was lodged last week and will be publicly notified in a few weeks.
Air New Zealand, Qantas and Jetstar operate from Queenstown.
Air New Zealand on average flies 58 return services a week to and from Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington.
Jetstar operates twice-daily services to Christchurch and Auckland.
Virgin Blue subsidiary Pacific Blue will enter the Queenstown market on September 5, with Sydney to Queenstown links on Saturdays and Tuesdays.
