Air New Zealand to further boost Japan services

Media release

6 March 2014

Air New Zealand to further boost Japan services

Air New Zealand is boosting capacity on its Japan services by 30 percent from November.

General Manager Japan Scott Carr says an overwhelming response to the airline’s recent campaign with Tourism New Zealand has further strengthened confidence in the Japan market.

“As a result Air New Zealand will add around 30 percent extra capacity to the Japan route between mid-November this year and the end of March 2015. This will also see the airline operate a year-round daily direct service between Japan and New Zealand for the first time since 2007.”

The new schedule will include a combination of daytime and overnight services, offering customers a greater choice and more convenient connections both in New Zealand and from Tokyo to North Asia and Europe.

There will be ten weekly services to Tokyo. Daily direct services will operate between Narita and Auckland, with three services per week operating via Christchurch.

“A focus of the Tourism Industry Association’s Tourism 2025 framework is to address the impact of seasonality on the tourism industry and Air New Zealand is focused on growing year round traffic, with an ambitious target to double visitor numbers from Japan by 2019,” Mr Carr says.

“We are on track to exceed our expectations for this financial year on the back of current campaign activity, which will deliver strong visitor arrival numbers to New Zealand in both May and June, this is hugely encouraging.”

Japan is New Zealand's fifth-largest tourism market with nearly 75,000 visitors in the year to January.

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