It was a record sales day on the Tasman for Air New Zealand on Tuesday, with tens of thousands of Kiwis and Aussies booking flights across the ditch in the hours after the bubble announcement.
Naturally, April is shaping up to be the airline’s busiest month so far, with flights from Auckland-Sydney, Auckland-Brisbane and Christchurch-Melbourne on April 19 selling out fast. May is coming in at a close second.
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.
"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."
