Air New Zealand is upping its domestic services next month to suit Kiwis travelling for business around the regions.
The airline says it has seen a good uptake from leisure travel in Covid-19 Level 2, with New Zealanders getting around the country for holidays in their own backyard.
Now it wants to cater to those needing to travel for work, too.
The flights will allow customers in Hamilton, Tauranga, Napier, New Plymouth, Palmerston North, Nelson, Dunedin and Invercargill to fly for a day of business in either Auckland, Wellington or Christchurch.
Air New Zealand general manager of networks Scott Carr says the airline has also timed flights allowing those in the main centres to be able to fly to the majority of these regions for work.
The airline says it has cut $400 million by slashing staff and grounding aircraft.
“Since publishing our domestic schedule for Alert Level 2, we’ve seen a good initial response from leisure travellers.
"As we further build our domestic schedule, we’re looking to cater for resumed business travel which we know helps support economic activity in regional New Zealand. As our corporate customers get moving again, we encourage take-up of these new services which depart first thing in the morning, returning in the late afternoon or evening.”
The new business flights will begin from June 8.
It comes as the airline slowly begins to open up in other areas of business, with a number of its lounges reopening earlier this week.
Air New Zealand’s Auckland Regional, Wellington Domestic and Christchurch Domestic lounges all reopened as of Monday, with nine regional airport lounges also opening including in Hamilton, Tauranga, Dunedin and Queenstown.
The lounges are only able to cater to a maximum of 100 people to abide by Level 2 restrictions, but would normally cater for more than that.
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