Travellers snap up new carrier's cheap airfares

Cheap airfares offered by the long-haul budget carrier AirAisa X for flights into and out-of Christchurch are being snapped up.

More than 43,000 seats were sold within three days of the airline's launch in New Zealand last week, with the majority bought by people wanting to fly into New Zealand.

Tourism New Zealand CEO, Kevin Bowler, said until now demand had been high and flight availability low.

He told Newstalk ZB a new player in the market was just the ticket, "our connections with Asia, particularly South East Asia, are not strong so having a new airline coming in and adding to the capacity that's there is absolutely what we need".

Mr Bowler said even if travellers only spent an average of $2500 each, it was a massive injection of foreign investment for the New Zealand economy, equalling around $60 million.

- NEWSTALK ZB