{"id":643687,"date":"2026-10-28T10:26:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-28T10:26:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/643687\/"},"modified":"2026-10-28T10:26:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-28T10:26:10","slug":"what-christchurchs-new-direct-perth-flights-mean-for-south-island-travellers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/643687\/","title":{"rendered":"What Christchurch\u2019s new direct Perth flights mean for South Island travellers"},"content":{"rendered":"

The trip will also mark the couple\u2019s 10th wedding anniversary and the birthdays of their daughters, Ayla, 4, and Ariella, who turns 2 next week.<\/p>\n

Rosa said avoiding connections would make travelling with young children much easier.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re travelling with kids and you have luggage … it\u2019s really not good to have a layover because kids are kids, they want to just walk around and they want to get to the destination as soon as possible,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo as parents, we do prefer a flight that doesn\u2019t have any layovers … So, this was a perfect option.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rosa said they were looking forward to sunshine, beaches and seeing Australian wildlife.<\/p>\n

Jetstar\u2019s first direct flight from Perth arrived in Christchurch yesterday, launching a seasonal service that will operate three times a week until March<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Jetstar said the inaugural Christchurch-Perth service was \u201ca busy flight\u201d, with bookings looking positive over the coming weeks.<\/p>\n

The route will add more than 37,000 seats between the two cities over summer.<\/p>\n

Christchurch Airport chief executive Justin Watson said the connection would benefit tourism operators throughout the South Island.<\/p>\n

\u201cMore than 37,000 additional seats over summer is great news for our tourism industry, particularly for the regional communities and businesses that benefit when visitors choose Christchurch and explore further afield,\u201d Watson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve worked closely with Jetstar to grow its network from Christchurch and it\u2019s fantastic to see that partnership delivering another international connection.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe new Jetstar route will add more than 37,000 seats between Christchurch and Perth over summer. Photo \/ David Gray \/ AFP<\/p>\n

Jetstar head of commercial New Zealand Cath O\u2019Brien said the service would offer Cantabrians more travel options while encouraging Australians to visit the South Island.<\/p>\n

\u201cTogether, these services will give Cantabrians more choice and more ways to get away, whether that\u2019s catching up with friends and family in Perth, a long weekend in Sydney, or connecting onwards to destinations across Australia, Asia and the Pacific.\u201d<\/p>\n

Christchurch NZ head of destination Kath Low said two recent tourism roadshows in Perth had attracted significant interest from Western Australian travel agents.<\/p>\n

\u201cPost Covid, the market which returned strongly immediately after borders opened was Perth, indicating very strong VFR [visiting friends and relatives],\u201d Low said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese new services are really important for visitation and there\u2019s vast growth opportunities for the leisure market.\u201d<\/p>\n

Air New Zealand is also expected to introduce direct flights between Christchurch and Perth at the end of November.<\/p>\n

Rafaella Melo is a multimedia journalist with more than 10 years\u2019 experience in Brazil. She spent two years reporting for Hawke\u2019s Bay Today before joining the NZ Herald\u2019s Christchurch team in 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The trip will also mark the couple\u2019s 10th wedding anniversary and the birthdays of their daughters, Ayla, 4,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":643688,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[5432,2108,138,8126,4487,50545,34521,17629,2109,70,6562,2082,189,2514,29391,13631,117,111,139,69,72,26346,12064,1240,8229,9186,9863,6923],"class_list":["post-643687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-between","tag-book","tag-business","tag-canterbury","tag-christchurch","tag-christchurchs","tag-destination","tag-direct","tag-family","tag-flight","tag-flights","tag-for","tag-holiday","tag-island","tag-mean","tag-never","tag-new","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-perth","tag-planned","tag-prompted","tag-south","tag-they","tag-travellers","tag-visit","tag-what"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643687","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=643687"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643687\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/643688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=643687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=643687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=643687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}