Cricket World Cup: Extra flights as fans prepare for final

Black Cap Daniel Vettori reckons "it is easier to play than to watch". Photo / Dean Purcell

A clamour for trips across the Tasman is on after the Black Caps' semifinal win, and airlines are organising extra flights for fans preparing a pilgrimage to Melbourne for the World Cup final.

Those who made it across the ditch could face another challenge, as Melbourne's hotels were filling up fast.

Black Caps semifinal hero Grant Elliott was among those jetting out today, joining his teammates in Melbourne this afternoon after staying in New Zealand an extra day to spend time with family, who were gathered in Auckland ahead of his sister Kate's wedding on Waiheke Island on Saturday.

Overwhelming Black Caps support compelled Air New Zealand and Virgin Australia to organise extra flights to Melbourne to cope with demand.

Air New Zealand said more than 300 seats would be available for fans on a charter flight leaving Auckland at 8.30 on Sunday morning.

That flight was set to land in Melbourne at 10.30am. The return flight would leave the World Cup final host city at 2am on Monday, landing back in Auckland at 7.30am.

Air New Zealand said it also added additional services from Auckland to Melbourne this Saturday.

"These additional flights proved hugely popular, selling out in only an hour," the airline said today.

The return fare for the newly-announced charter flights was $991 including taxes.

The airline said seats went on sale at its website from 12.30pm today.

Virgin scheduled ten extra Trans-Tasman flights to cope with demand from Black Caps fans. Two of these flights leave Auckland, tomorrow and Saturday.

Jetstar said its passengers were also experiencing the outbreak of Black Caps fever.

The airline noticed an unmistakable boost in sales within moments of Grant Elliott's match-winning six against South Africa on Tuesday night.

"Loads are very high from both Auckland and Christchurch to Melbourne over the next few days," a Jetstar spokesman said.

He said half the carrier's flights to Melbourne from New Zealand over the next few days were sold out.

"We added extra flights to our Auckland-Melbourne schedule at the start of summer and they're certainly being well patronised this week."

Other flights were rapidly approaching capacity, Jetstar said.

And so were hotels in Melbourne. Accommodation website AirBNB had only 18 listings for people planning to stay Sunday night in the city's central business district. One two-bedroom apartment was available for $1037.

Vacancies were expected to rapidly dissipate once today's semi-final was over, regardless of who won.

Hotel booking site wotif.com told The Age newspaper remaining rooms in Melbourne would "sell out fast" after the semifinal.

Cricket World Cup spokesman Tim Whittaker said he'd heard anecdotally many Kiwis would be staying with family.

There were no tickets currently for sale through official channels for the final. But people who couldn't make the final could sell tickets on the Cricket World Cup Resale Market webpage and it was possible some final tickets would crop up there.

Mr Whittaker said ticket scalping was illegal in Victoria and anyone caught scalping would have their tickets nullified.

-- Additional reporting Steve Deane