19 September 2012
Domestic connections vital to national and regional economies
Auckland Airport welcomed the announcement today from Jetstar that they are significantly increasing their services between Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, and that they are boosting trans-Tasman flights to Queenstown from this November.
Glenn Wedlock, Auckland Airport General Manager Aeronautical Commercial, said, “The influence of Jetstar and their exceptional value product in the New Zealand travel market in recent years has provided benefits to kiwi travellers and to economies around the country.
“Today’s announcement offers further indication of their commitment to the market, and, alongside the existing domestic services from Air New Zealand and Jetstar, these increased air connections will only help to drive national travel, tourism and trade. We anticipate a fantastic reaction from the market.”
“As many will know, domestic tourism is a significant, yet sometimes under-appreciated, factor in the national visitor industry. With Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development (ATEED) recently launching an Auckland domestic tourism campaign, this announcement comes at a great time to support that and offer more opportunities to fly domestically.
”The Jetstar domestic expansion means over 600,000 additional seats per annum going into the New Zealand market, with 20 additional weekly connections between Auckland and Wellington, and seven additional weekly connections between Auckland and Christchurch. Auckland Airport estimates this could equate to nearly 400,000 additional passenger movements in and out of Auckland per annum.
“Another benefit of this announcement is that it offers further opportunities to better connect Auckland to other parts of New Zealand for inbound travel, and to international services such as Jetstar to Singapore for outbound travel,” said Mr Wedlock.
Auckland Airport is already working with its airline customers to accommodate increased domestic capacity at the existing terminal in the short-term, and is also working with airlines on longer-term plans for accommodating future growth in domestic travel and to cater for the travel needs of future generations.
Ends
For more information, media only, please contact:
Richard Llewellyn
[email protected]
09 255 9089
027 477 6120