{"id":163597,"date":"2025-12-02T02:21:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T02:21:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/163597\/"},"modified":"2025-12-02T02:21:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T02:21:08","slug":"air-new-zealand-adds-seats-new-business-friendly-flight-times-on-key-rotorua-routes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/163597\/","title":{"rendered":"Air New Zealand adds seats, new \u2018business-friendly\u2019 flight times on key Rotorua routes"},"content":{"rendered":"

It comes after the airline announced in December it was cutting back on daily direct flights between Rotorua and Wellington due to \u201csoftened demand\u201d on the route<\/a>.<\/p>\n

MPs Todd McClay and Rawiri Waititi spoke out against the reduction, with Waititi expressing \u201cextreme disappointment\u201d<\/a> at the loss of the service.<\/p>\n

Gripes about flight schedules, cancellations and costs in Rotorua were the top write-in issue raised in a 2024 survey<\/a> of 99 local businesspeople.<\/p>\n

The latest Rotorua Business Pulse Survey, released last week, showed almost one-third of responding air travellers never or rarely used Rotorua Airport.<\/p>\n

Better flight schedules and greater reliability drove them to use Tauranga, Auckland and\/or Hamilton.<\/p>\n

Air New Zealand short-haul and domestic general manager Lucy Hall said in the statement the airline had heard from the Rotorua community that \u201cbetter flight times\u201d for business travel were a priority.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re adjusting the schedule to meet that request. These changes will make it easier for locals to travel for work and return home the same evening.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was also adding more seats on the Auckland\u2013Rotorua route by \u201cup-gauging\u201d to ATR aircraft for a 7% year-on-year capacity increase.<\/p>\n

It was also increasing capacity on its Christchurch-Rotorua service by 4%.<\/p>\n

The changes were aimed at eliminating the need for business customers to stay overnight, while also improving connectivity with Christchurch, Nelson, Dunedin and Queenstown.<\/p>\n

\"RotoruaRotorua Airport chief executive Nicole Brewer speaking at a December 2024 council meeting. Photo \/ Laura Smith<\/p>\n

Hall said the changes supported the airline\u2019s commitment to strengthening regional connections underpinning local business and tourism.<\/p>\n

\u201cRotorua is an important part of our domestic network and we\u2019re proud to offer a schedule that reflects the community\u2019s needs,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Rotorua Airport chief executive Nicole Brewer said the change to the ATR aircraft on the Auckland route would \u201cenhance reliability and capacity for travellers\u201d.<\/p>\n

This supported the airport\u2019s initiatives to improve reliability in recent years, including a newly designed flight path and updated minimum visibility clearance requirements.<\/p>\n

Rotorua Mayor Tania Tapsell said the changes were \u201ca welcome boost\u201d for the region\u2019s business community and visitors.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re very grateful that Air New Zealand has listened to feedback from our community,\u201d Tapsell said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t underestimate the importance that reliable, well-timed air services are for our regions and this investment shows real confidence in Rotorua\u2019s future.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It comes after the airline announced in December it was cutting back on daily direct flights between Rotorua…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":163598,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[16745,34284,68,107266,70,4277,130,117,111,43,139,69,90,1327,8814,56638,544,14005,80],"class_list":{"0":"post-163597","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-adding","9":"tag-adds","10":"tag-air","11":"tag-businessfriendly","12":"tag-flight","13":"tag-key","14":"tag-more","15":"tag-new","16":"tag-new-zealand","17":"tag-news","18":"tag-newzealand","19":"tag-nz","20":"tag-on","21":"tag-rotorua","22":"tag-routes","23":"tag-seats","24":"tag-some","25":"tag-times","26":"tag-zealand"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163597"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163597\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/163598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=163597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}