KEY POINTS:
Hong Kong-based airline Cathay Pacific will increase its flights to New Zealand in December.
The airline will have two daily flights over the busy summer period until the end of March, and increase its flights during winter next year, when it will operate 10 flights a week.
In October next year, the airline will reintroduce the increased summer service again.
A Cathay spokesman for the region, David Figgins, said the airline had experienced increased demand for flights to New Zealand this past winter, particularly on flights from mainland China.
China is currently the fifth largest source of tourists to New Zealand , with 118,372 Chinese tourists coming to New Zealand in the year to September, an increase of 17.4 per cent.
The integration of Dragonair into the Cathay Pacific Group is thought to have been a factor. Dragonair operates to 19 destinations across China , providing connections across the mainland.
- NZPA
