Today's inaugural Pacific Blue flight from Sydney to Queenstown will get the star treatment when it arrives about 3.35pm.
Flight DJ 88 will be greeted by the traditional arc of water from Queenstown Airport emergency service vehicles.
On board the Boeing 737-800 will be about 180 passengers including Queenstown Airport Corporation chief executive Steve Sanderson, plus journalists and writers from hotel and accommodation management magazine HM, Vacations and Travel magazines and inflight magazine Virgin Blue Voyeur.
They will report their experiences of Queenstown's skifields, wineries, cafes, restaurants, spas and adventure activities to their Australasian and Pacific Island-wide readership.
"It's nice to have Pacific Blue in Queenstown and have promotions through direct flights from Sydney," Mr Sanderson said.
"With the great ski season we've had and the record number of Australians here, the timing is great."
Pacific Blue will operate a twice-weekly service between Sydney and Queenstown, on Tuesday and Sunday.
The schedule was designed to suit Australian tourists.
Forward bookings for Queenstown were going well, with strong support from group bookings, the airline said.
Pacific Blue will introduce year-round Saturday and Sunday return flights between Auckland and Queenstown on September 19.
