School holidays see seat capacity lift

The school holidays provided a much-needed boost to passenger numbers, with capacity at Wellington Airport increasing by 57% on the two weeks prior and around 190,000 seats flown.

Overall, air travel to and from the Wellington region is steadily increasing following the move to Alert Level 1. Air New Zealand’s flight schedules and capacity are growing each week, Jetstar returned on 1 July and regional airlines are back up and running, making it possible to fly to all the great domestic destinations available before Covid-19.

Matt Clarke, Chief Commercial Officer at Wellington Airport said “Covid-19 has had an unprecedented impact on the aviation and tourism industry with our passenger numbers falling to only 1% of normal in April. However, the move to Alert Level 2 in May, Level 1 in June, and school holidays in July is seeing passengers steadily returning”.

“With international borders closed, we have a long way to go before things are back to normal but it’s great to see more passengers travelling domestically again. With all domestic airlines now operating, our domestic capacity for July is back to around 65% of pre-Covid levels and should be at 75% in August based on current seats available for sale.”

Things are picking up in the terminal itself too since moving to alert level 1. Most food and beverage operators and retailers have reopened and the airport is getting back the Wellington city vibe we’re used to.

Being in the centre of the country, Wellington has a great range of easily accessible domestic travel options, and with more than 1,000 flights a week across 19 destinations, it’s easy to explore all New Zealand has to offer and provide much needed support to our regions.

For information about latest routes available from Wellington Airport, visit www.wellingtonairport.co.nz/WLGtoNZ