It was a record sales day on the Tasman for Air New Zealand on Tuesday, with thousands of Kiwis and Aussies giddily booking flights across the ditch in the hours after the bubble announcement.
As soon as New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern gave the thumbs up on an April 19 start date for the quarantine-free bubble, thousands of people got to work booking their trips with Air New Zealand to reunite with loved ones, enjoy an international holiday or have a long-overdue business catch up in-person.
Nothing says “pent up demand” like a record sales day.
As such, Air New Zealand says April is now shaping up to be the airline’s busiest month so far, with flights from Auckland-Sydney, Auckland-Brisbane and Christchurch-Melbourne on 19 April selling out fast.
This is great news for all things Tourism Australia too, who incidentally launched their new ‘Be The First’ $3m campaign today in New Zealand.
Still sitting on the fence about booking flights? Get a move on because the airline says May is already coming in at a close second for sales.
Air New Zealand Chief Executive Officer Greg Foran says he is thrilled the airline can play a part in reuniting friends and whānau across the Tasman.
“Auckland-Sydney was our most popular route yesterday, seeing the largest growth in bookings to date. We expect this is a mixture of friends and family making up for a year of missed milestones, and business travellers keen to get moving again.
“While a lot of Kiwis are heading across the ditch, there have been really strong bookings for Australians coming to check out New Zealand. Queenstown will see an influx of Aussies in July and September and we expect to see a bigger boost around the country for the July school holidays. It’s promising to be a busy ski season for the mountains.
Greg Foran, Air New Zealand Chief Executive Officer
“We’ve certainly been looking forward to this moment for a few months now, so to finally have the bubble open is terrific. This will be a great boost for the New Zealand economy and tourism sector.” He said.
Air New Zealand announced yesterday that from Monday, April 19, it is ramping up flights between Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Queenstown and eight of its Australian ports.
You can read the full schedule here.
Air New Zealand also cheekily sent Qantas an actual pavlova which was a classy move. In response, Qantas sent one back.
Looks like there will be more than enough slices of the trans-Tasman pie to go round if yesterday’s sales are anything to go by.
Head over to www.flyairnz.com.au for more.