Dunedin Airport bosses are working to reinstate direct international flights to Australia, which ceased amid Covid disruption in March 2020. Photo / NZ Herald
Dunedin Airport bosses are working to reinstate direct international flights to Australia, which ceased amid Covid disruption in March 2020. Photo / NZ Herald
Dunedin Airport chief executive Daniel De Bono and business development general manager Megan Crawford are currently in Australia meeting with tourism bureaus, airports and airlines to hopefully bring about a return of international flights to Dunedin.
The southern city has been without direct international flights to Australia since March 2020, when Covid-19 forced global borders to shut down.
Brisbane-based airline Virgin Australia formerly flew direct weekly flights between Brisbane and Dunedin, but ceased operations after the pandemic and later went into administration, leaving a significant gap in the Dunedin market.
The closest international airport to Dunedin is Queenstown - a 3.5-hour drive away.
De Bono said airport staff have been working hard on reconnecting Dunedin with Australia, and have been focused on working behind the scenes in commercial negotiations with airports and airlines.
“Since March 2020, we’ve not been this close to sorting out a deal ... We are as close as we’ve ever been to securing a service since we lost Virgin,” he said.
“We haven’t really been talking a lot about what we have been doing, albeit some of that’s quite challenging, particularly around commercial sensitivities, but at the same time, it’s important we share what we can to give Dunedin the confidence that we are actually listening.”
International flights are closer than ever to returning to Dunedin.
The struggle to bring international flights back to Dunedin has been widely publicised, receiving commentary from the tourism minister, local business leaders and a campaign to reinstate international flights by Taieri teenager Benjamin Paterson that saw over 25,000 responses from the public.
“I think Ben’s done a fantastic job bringing the community together, and he’s reinforced the view that we’ve got that there’s a real strong support for the re-establishment of international services,” De Bono said.
“We’ve met with Ben and his mum ourselves as well and had some good discussions with him. So anything that kind of brings attention to the cause is good in my view.”
De Bono said the hit to the aviation sector following the pandemic was “massive”, but Tasman travel was getting close to returning to pre-Covid levels.
“People are getting on aircraft which is really good, we just need to reconnect Dunedin with a direct service,” he said.
Having an international service contributed about $8 million to the regional GDP, as well as creating around 65 jobs, De Bono added.
“That’s just the economic benefits, there’s especially a social standpoint as well. We know there are so many Kiwis living [in Australia], so many of those have friends and family on both sides of the ditch. Serving to reconnect people is incredibly important as well.”
International destinations out of Dunedin will start with Brisbane, followed by Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth, which were identified as the primary markets for these flights based on an analysis of ticketing data, he said.
Just when international flights will return to Dunedin is uncertain, but De Bono is confident in the airport’s proposal to Australian stakeholders, which showcases the story of Dunedin and the lower South Island, including the Catlins and Otago.
“That’s really important for an airport that in order for services to be sustainable, we really need to draw Australians in the other direction as well,” he said.
De Bono said outbound flights to Australia would find a ready market.
“We know that people in our neck of the woods will jump on those flights to go and get a nice holiday on the coasts, but actually we need Australians coming our way as well.
“There’s so much to offer to Australians, particularly in this part of the world.”
Ben Tomsett is a Multimedia Journalist for the New Zealand Herald, based in Dunedin.
