Rugby World Cup sponsor Emirates is ramping up preparations for the tournament as the one-year countdown approaches.
Emirates manager New Zealand & Pacific Islands Chris Lethbridge said the next big event was September 9 - marking one year to the first game.
The Dubai-based airline does not start filling seats in its reservation systems until 11 months before the date of travel.
"This is why the next month is crucial for us because this is when we'll suddenly start seeing the actual real bookings," Lethbridge said.
"The next level is to actually start working with the official travel agents appointed through the IRB to sell the Rugby World Cup and get people to commit to the event," he said.
"Early signs show that the interest is fantastic."
Projections anticipate 85,000 visitors during the Rugby World Cup, with a maximum of 43,000 at any one time.
The tournament is forecast to make a $39 million loss, although a report for the Ministry of Economic Development in 2006 estimated the wider economic benefit could be $507 million.
Emirates looked at sponsorship as a way of generating money.
"We know we're going to be full," Lethbridge said. "It's just a matter of making sure that we can facilitate the travel of people as best we can."
Emirates did not plan to put on additional planes for the event but there would be an extra 672 seats a week on its Auckland-Melbourne-Dubai service from Monday as the airline replaced its Airbus A340-500 operation with the latest Boeing 777-300ER aircraft.
Emirates would make the same change to its Auckland-Brisbane-Dubai route on January 1.
"So not only is there a capacity increase which actually fits very nicely for next year for the Rugby World Cup but also the demand for seats is there," Lethbridge said.
"So it's a good opportunity to put more seats in the market."
Passenger loads and yields had shown a big change from 2009 to 2010.
"We think a lot of people got nervous last year so they stayed home, there was uncertainty about jobs, uncertainty about their business," he said.
"Then we had this pent-up demand and all of a sudden as we saw business recovering and unemployment starting to stabilise a bit, people feel safer and then off they went again this year."
Emirates also sponsored Arsenal Football Club in the UK, Collingwood Football Club in Australia and Fifa through to 2014.
People were very emotional about sport, Lethbridge said.
"We see it here with the All Blacks but you see it more so overseas where people proudly wear their team's rugby jerseys or football jerseys as a fashion item," he said.
"Then you have that association so you then become part of that family."
Emirates would conduct events for target audiences for the Rugby World Cup, including using rugby ambassadors in certain countries.
"Everyone has an opinion about rugby, everyone has an opinion on who's going to win, everyone has an opinion on the rules," he said.
"We have some quirky ideas we're keeping secret now just to make things a little bit more interesting and really just getting people to engage in the event."
THE BIG ONE
* Emirates is a global sponsor of the Rugby World Cup.
* 85,000 visitors are expected.
* $39 million loss forecast for the tournament.
* $507 million possible wider economic benefit.
