Air New Zealand will operate business-timed flights in and out of a number of its regional destinations from next month after suspending them during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The flights will allow customers in Hamilton, Tauranga, Napier, New Plymouth, Palmerston North, Nelson, Dunedin and Invercargill to undertake a day of business in either Auckland, Wellington or Christchurch, and return home in the evening.
Air NZ's general manager of networks Scott Carr says the timings of the flights mean travellers from Auckland, Wellington or Christchurch will also be able to fly to the majority of these regions and back within a day too.
"Since publishing our domestic schedule for alert level 2, we've seen a good initial response from leisure travellers. As we further build our domestic schedule, we’re looking to cater for resumed business travel which we know helps support economic activity in regional New Zealand," he said.
"As our corporate customers get moving again, we encourage take-up of these new services which depart first thing in the morning, returning in the late afternoon or evening."
The new flights are as follows:
Hamilton-Wellington
- Departs Hamilton 7:30am
- Departs Wellington 6:05pm
Tauranga-Auckland
- Departs Tauranga 7:00am
- Departs Auckland 6:15pm
Napier-Auckland
- Departs Napier 7:20am
- Departs Auckland 3:30pm/6:30pm
New Plymouth-Auckland
- Departs New Plymouth 8:05am
- Departs Auckland 4:25pm
New Plymouth-Wellington
- Departs New Plymouth 7:30am
- Departs Wellington 5:00pm
Palmerston North-Auckland
- Departs Palmerston North 7:15am
- Departs Auckland 4:30pm
Nelson-Auckland
- Departs Nelson 6:30am/8:05am
- Departs Auckland 3:00pm/5:20pm
Nelson-Wellington
- Departs Nelson 7:05am
- Departs Wellington 4:30pm/5:50pm
Nelson-Christchurch
- Departs Nelson 7:25am
- Departs Christchurch 6:15pm
Dunedin-Christchurch
- Departs Dunedin 7:00am
- Departs Christchurch 5:55pm
Invercargill-Christchurch
- Departs Invercargill 8:45am
- Departs Christchurch 4:45pm
The business-timed flights start from June 8.
