Airfare wars: Return to Rome for $999 on sale this weekend

Cut price airfares to Rome this weekend will drop to $999 and return economy to the Cook Islands will sell for $399.

Flight Centre is offering the deals as part of a global sale which includes Hawaii return for $699 and London for $1299.

The promotional Rome fares are from Auckland aboard China Southern which operates a modern fleet through its Guangzhou hub.

New York via Australia on Qantas is $1249 for travel between July 11 and August 30.

The Hawaii flights are on Air New Zealand from May 5 to June 24. Some of those flights are likely to be aboard Portuguese charter operator Hi Fly which is returning here to supplement Air New Zealand's Dreamliners for a short time on the highly competitive route as its Dreamliners are used on shorter flights because of engine problems.

The Rarotonga deal is aboard Virgin Australia.

The sale also includes indirect flights to Singapore for $799 aboard China Southern, the Gold Coast for $399 on Air New Zealand new battleground route, Bali on Virgin for $749. Air New Zealand is boosting flights to the resort island this winter and Emirates starts daily flights there from mid-June.

Sean Berenson, Flight Centre NZ general manager product said poor autumn weather had already boosted demand for ''flop and drop'' holidays.

''Availability on all fares is very good this weekend, it certainly isn't a case of only 10 seats available at these prices.''

Berenson said record low airfares and increased accessibility has also seen a surge in the number of Kiwis booking long haul this year.

Latest Statistics New Zealand figures show the number of Kiwis taking overseas trips grew 8.1 per cent to 2.9 million during the last 12 months.

Although the agent doesn't release numbers of passengers booked, Europe experienced significant growth during April, London Gatwick was up a 115 per cent on 2017 and Amsterdam 15 percent.

Strong competition is driving sale airfares down but research done for Flight Centre's corporate travel arm, FCM, shows that on some routes underlying prices were firming, particularly for business travellers who typically book less than four weeks before travel.

Latest figures from the International Air Transport Association show that global demand for seats rose 9.5 per cent in March compared to the same month a year earlier but warns that higher fuel prices could boost fares.