Confidence in domestic travel is beginning to steadily ramp up, with thousands of Kiwis travelling within New Zealand for Queen’s Birthday.
Nearly 400 flights will be operating to and from Auckland Airport over the long weekend.
“We’re ready to welcome thousands of New Zealanders to our domestic terminal who will be reuniting with whƒÅnau and friends around the country. Our team is working hard to ensure everyone travels responsibly and with confidence through our airport, and on to their next destination,” says Anna Cassels-Brown, general manager operations at Auckland Airport.
“While the numbers are still nowhere near what we’d normally see over Queen's Birthday weekend, it’s a big increase in Kiwis travelling around New Zealand under Alert Level 2. That’s an encouraging sign that people are confident and ready to fly within New Zealand for business, recreation and to reconnect with friends and family.”
New Zealand’s busiest airport typically caters for 1800 flights for a Queen’s Birthday long weekend, made up of around 1200 domestic and 600 international flights. Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, this Queen’s Birthday long weekend will be very different with 80 per cent fewer flights overall – 70 per cent fewer domestic flights and 95 per cent fewer international flights.
Auckland Airport’s focus on providing a safe and seamless travel journey has remained constant despite dramatic changes in the operating environment.
“The wellbeing of everyone working in and travelling through our terminals is our top priority, and we want everyone here to be as safe as possible. Travellers during Alert Level 2 have been very careful and respectful of physical distancing requirements, by following our brightly-coloured markings and signage to maintain good spacing – especially inside the terminals,” says Anna.
Access to the both terminals remains restricted to passengers holding a ticket to travel the same day, with activities carefully managed inside to ensure physical distancing is maintained.
“We dressed our domestic terminal with more than 1000 yellow decals in anticipation of extra travellers during Alert Level 2. There are reminders about physical distancing requirements everywhere – including digital signs, floor markings, on seats, in bathrooms and at the baggage reclaim area,” she says.
Queen’s Birthday weekend 2020
- 384 scheduled flights – 365 domestic flights and 19 international flights.
- Busiest destinations – Christchurch (46 flights), Wellington (44 flights), Sydney (four flights).
- Under Alert Level 3 approximately 600 domestic passengers per day used the domestic terminal. This number has more than tripled to over 2000 passengers per day under Alert Level 2.
