Approximately one in three New Zealanders flying on Air New Zealand's first Tasman Express flights today booked their airfares online, reflecting the growing confidence of Kiwi travellers in saving time and money by booking via the internet.
More than 4,200 New Zealanders and Australians will cross the Tasman today as Air New Zealand's new everyday low airfare service begins. By the end of the first week of operation almost 22,000 travellers will have flown on Tasman Express and experienced the airline's new café-style menu and the great inflight service they have always enjoyed with Air New Zealand.
The innovative new menu, served inflight for the first time today, was developed in consultation with Air New Zealand consultant chef Rex Morgan of Citron restaurant in Wellington. The menu showcases outstanding New Zealand produce such as lamb and beef, New Zealand fish and salmon, as well as Kapiti cheeses and ice-cream, Hubbards cereals, organic yoghurt and New Zealand wine.
In the past 10 days, as the launch date of Tasman Express has drawn closer, online bookings in the New Zealand market have grown to over 30% - up from a pre-Tasman Express level of barely 3 per cent.
One in five Australians flying on Tasman Express also booked their airfares online, a significant shift from less than 3 per cent before the new fares became available.
Air New Zealand's Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director Ralph Norris says Tasman Express enables customers to view trans-Tasman flying as an easy, affordable choice.
"Today's launch is proof that our unbeatable combination of low everyday fares and great inflight service is encouraging more New Zealanders to fly more often," he said.
To cater for this increased demand, Air New Zealand has added 11 new weekly flights - seven more services from Christchurch (three to Sydney, two to Melbourne and two to Brisbane) and four more Auckland to Melbourne services.
Four of the airline's new Airbus A320 aircraft will also be operating on the route by the end of the year.
By Christmas, Air New Zealand expects to sell an estimated 120,000 one-way journeys across the Tasman - 10 per cent higher than passenger numbers for the same period last year.
Tasman Express is tracking on course to meet its 11 per cent incremental growth target for the first year, with some particular routes out of each of the international gateways showing spectacular growth for the first full month of sales to November 30, 2003.
Auckland
New Zealand's number one holiday route, Auckland-Brisbane, has seen booking growth of more than 50 per cent over this time last year due to increased capacity and the offer of everyday low Tasman Express fares to this popular holiday destination.
Wellington
The Wellington-Melbourne route, which is a mix of both business and leisure traffic, has sold particularly well since the announcement of Tasman Express low fares. Bookings are up 18 per cent compared to the same period last year.
Christchurch
Christchurch to Brisbane bookings are running more than 60 per cent ahead of the same period last year as a result of the new Tasman Express fares and increased capacity with an additional weekly Boeing 737 on the route.
Queenstown
The Sydney-Queenstown service has seen passenger growth of 25% since the announcement of Tasman Express, with the strong booking levels reflective of the growing importance of Tasman Express in helping to drive inbound tourism, not just to key centres that enjoy international connections but also, through linkage with domestic Express Class add-on fares, to provincial points beyond the key gateways.
Picture Captions
Pic One - Ready for Take Off....Air New Zealand's Group General Manager Airlines Rob Fyfe enjoys the new cafe-style of inflight service onboard an Airbus A320 which was operating one of this morning's first Tasman Express flights, served by Purser Katrina Zukauskas.
Pic Two - As Air New Zealand's new Tasman Express service readied for take-off this morning, the airline's Group General Manager Airlines Rob Fyfe welcomed passengers onboard the first flights at Auckland International Airport.
Pic Three - Hats Off To Tasman Express - Purser Katrina Zukauskas prepares to close the door on one of the first Air New Zealand Tasman Express flights to depart this morning - making sure she leaves her bowler hat behind. The hats are being phased out of use from today, signaling the start of a revamp of the uniform within the next 18 months.
NOTE: The content of all Air New Zealand media releases are accurate at the time of issue, as stated at the top of each release. For updates on any changes, please contact Air New Zealand.
Air New Zealand is proud to be a member of Star Alliance. The Star Alliance network was established in 1997 as the first truly global airline alliance to offer worldwide reach, recognition and seamless service to the international traveller. Its acceptance by the market has been recognised by numerous awards, including the Air Transport World Market Leadership Award, Best Airline Alliance by both Business Traveller Magazine and Skytrax. The member airlines are: Adria Airways, Air Canada, Air China, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana Airlines, Austrian, Blue1, bmi, Continental Airlines, Croatia Airlines, EGYPTAIR, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines, Shanghai Airlines, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, Spanair, SWISS, TAP Portugal, Turkish Airlines, THAI, United and US Airways. Aegean Airlines, Air India, Brussels Airlines and TAM have been announced as future members. Overall, the Star Alliance network offers 19,500 daily flights to 1,071 airports in 171 countries.
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