Air New Zealand announced this morning it was ramping its domestic capacity for the school holidays, which start on Saturday, across New Zealand to almost 90% of pre-Covid-19 levels.
For Queenstown capacity was increasing to above pre-Covid levels, Air New Zealand General Manager Networks Scott Carr said.
“We are ... 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% during the holidays, compared to the same school holiday period last year.”
Mr Carr said when you considered that prior to Covid-19, at least 20% of passengers on the airline’s domestic network were international visitors, it was very apparent that more Kiwis than ever were 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.
"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."
Overall, in October the airline’s domestic schedule would be operating at nearly 85% of pre-Covid-19 levels.
Air New Zealand was still requiring face coverings/masks on all domestic flights while Auckland remained at Alert Level 2.
