Air New Zealand gears up for bumper summer
10-Nov-2017 With the holiday season just around the corner, Air New Zealand has begun preparing for a busy summer ahead. The airline will operate 2.2 million seats across its domestic network over the peak December-January period, 90,000 more than the same period last year.
Strong summer demand has seen Air New Zealand add more than 180 extra flights between 21 and 31 December to get holidaymakers to and from their destinations.
The busiest flying days are expected to be Thursday 21 December through to Christmas Eve with passenger numbers peaking on Friday 22 December when Air New Zealand will operate more than 45,000 seats across about 530 domestic flights.
Chief Strategy Networks and Alliances Officer Nick Judd is urging domestic customers booked to travel during this busy period to consider taking out travel insurance.
"Many of our customers have big plans for memorable summer holidays and our operational teams are absolutely geared up to get them to where they need to be, but every year events outside our control such as bad weather mean travellers' plans go awry.
"Most customers don't think twice about taking out insurance for overseas trips, but it's a step that's often forgotten for domestic journeys. When the unexpected happens, the extra money paid to insure your journey could end up being money very well spent.
"The same goes for major sporting and concert events this summer. For example, Air New Zealand is operating 60 extra one-way flights to get Ed Sheeran fans from Auckland to Dunedin in March 2018. We know that customers will have made a significant investment in show tickets, flights and accommodation. So, considering taking out travel insurance for events like music concerts and sporting fixtures makes for good commonsense."
Mr Judd says this is also a good time to remind customers to allow extra time to travel to and through airports during the peak season.
"Auckland Airport in particular experienced serious congestion issues last summer and while we're hoping the situation won't be as bad this year it's still wise to double check your itinerary and leave plenty of time not just to get to the airport, but also to process through security and arrive at your boarding gate in plenty of time."