NZ regional airline Sounds Air releases 'all-you-can-fly' tickets

From RNZ

A New Zealand airline is releasing $799 all-you-can-fly tickets, giving purchasers three months to travel as often as they like with the airline.

Regional carrier Sounds Air has 1000 tickets available and flies to nine destinations from Blenheim, Christchurch, Nelson, Paraparaumu, Picton, Taupō, Wānaka, Wellington and Westport.

Sounds Air general manager Andrew Crawford said the country was past Omicron and Covid-19, and while people wanted to get "out there" again, they had been slow coming back to air travel.

"I was in the US recently and I really noticed how people are moving around and getting into it ... and I come back to New Zealand and we're still in our shells.

"People are sick of it - sick of Zoom and sick of Teams."

The airline had 17,000 seats available for the time the tickets are available for, and he encouraged those who bought the special tickets to make the most of them.

Sounds Air general manager Andrew Crawford says people are sick of online meetings and yearn for human contact. Photo / Supplied

"We've got spare capacity, let's get people buying a season pass and try to get them on flights that are not full anyway.

"We're New Zealand's regional carrier and we just want to get people back flying again."

Crawford said Sounds Air was also working on plans to become the world's first regional airline to fly zero-emissions flights.