Air NZ prepares for bumper ski season

Air New Zealand is putting on more flights from Australia to Queenstown due to increased demand. Photo / Sarah Ivey

Air New Zealand is boosting by 30 per cent the number of flights between Australia and Queenstown this coming ski season.

It is also putting on 30 per cent more seats from Auckland over the same period, with four direct return services per day.

For the peak July and August periods, return services from Sydney will increase from five to six per week, an additional weekly service will be added to the current two services from Melbourne, with Brisbane services up one to four a week.

General Manager Tasman Pacific Airline Glen Sowry said the extra flights were in response to increased demand which had soared during the past two years.

The number of Australian visitors topped one million last year, with the Queenstown area being a major drawcard.

Figures released by Queenstown Airport for the half year ending in December bear this out.

Passenger numbers through the airport are up overall by 12 per cent on the same period in 2008, with international passengers up 29 per cent and domestic passengers up 10 per cent.

Compared to the same six-month period in 2008, international passengers grew to 66,719, due to an increase of 25 per cent in international flights from the east coast of Australia.

Although the number of flights were slightly down - by 3 per cent - average passenger loadings were at 78 per cent, up 7 per cent.

Sowry said the region was proving popular over summer, with the number of flights from Auckland in January and February up 20 per cent on 2008.

Air New Zealand has also introduced direct flights between Rotorua and Sydney.

The service started last month and there had been good uptake on the early flights, Sowry said.

"The big job for us is going to be continuing to build awareness and demand for the services in the years ahead."

Sowry said there were signs the glut of capacity across the Tasman - which had led to extremely low fares and low yields for airlines last year - was stabilising.

"Capacity seems to have stabilised so we'll see what happens."