Air New Zealand redeploys long-haul jets on school holiday flights

Air New Zealand's Boeing 787-9s are being repurposed as domestic passenger and cargo flights. Photo / Supplied

The national carrier has announced it will be bringing its 787-9 Dreamliners for the school holidays.

The planes which are the same model earmarked for Air New Zealand's delayed Auckland-New York service will now be carrying families of holidaymakers between Auckland and Christchurch.

The repurposing of the long-range craft will represent 10,000 additional seats over the school holidays, with 16 return services being scheduled using these aircraft between 29 June and 26 July.

GM of networks Scott Carr said that the use of larger aircraft will also increase capacity on other parts of the network. Particularly with air links between Auckland, Wellington, Dunedin and Queenstown.

"This is great news for tourism and those wanting to hit the slopes," says Carr.

"When it comes to our Auckland-Queenstown route, we'll be offering even more capacity over the school holidays than we did during the same time last year through upgauging 140 return services from our A320 to our larger A321neo aircraft between 29 June and 26 July."

The upgauging of aircraft will also add extra capacity to routes from Blenheim, Dunedin, Gisborne, Hamilton, Invercargill, Kerikeri, Napier, New Plymouth, Nelson, Palmerston North, Rotorua and Tauranga.

The airline told the Herald the 787-9 fleet was previously deployed between mid-to-long haul routes such as Chicago, Shanghai and Taipei prior to the Covid pandemic, due to their fuel efficiency.

Flights between Auckland and Christchurch are on sale for between $278 - $308 return.