After a 330-day period of no operations, direct flights from Australia to Queenstown resumed today. The Qantas flight from Sydney marks the welcome return of Australian visitors to the popular South Island tourist destination. Other carriers plan to resume their trans-Tasman operations to Queenstown in the near future, with JetStar due back next week and Air New Zealand scheduling flights for next month. The airlines are predicting a good recovery, scheduling their capacity at 75% of pre-Covid levels.
The return of direct flights is a welcome boost to the Queenstown economy, which is heavily reliant on tourism. The timing is right for this year’s ski season, which begins next month.
