Air New Zealand is gearing up for a busy July school holiday period, with the airline operating more than 580,000 seats across its domestic network as Kiwis prepare to take to the skies. Air New Zealand Chief Customer and Sales Officer Leanne Geraghty says the airline is well prepared to connect New Zealanders with each other and the world this school holidays.

“We’ve seen huge demand for travel across Aotearoa New Zealand over the school holiday period. To cater to this, we have added an extra 45,000 seats across nearly 500 flights to our domestic network, compared with the same school holiday period last year. On average, that’s an additional 3,000 seats per day.”

Queenstown is the most popular destination on the New Zealand network, with nearly 70,000 seats in and out of the wintery favourite from Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch. “Our teams are working hard to prepare for the holiday demand, including increasing staff numbers where needed and enabling more customers to self-serve during their travel experience. Our goal is to provide customers with the smoothest travel experience possible.”

Demand for travel across the two motu is also up this year, with customers keen to hop between the North and South Islands. Air New Zealand has increased seats available on flights between Christchurch and Rotorua by 55 percent, Christchurch and Tauranga by 40 percent, and Auckland and Blenheim by 26 percent compared with the 2022 school holidays.

Internationally, Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane are the most popular destinations for travellers with Air New Zealand, followed by Singapore and Nadi rounding out the top five.“There are more than 230,000 customers booked to travel internationally with Air New Zealand during the July school holidays and our teams are looking forward to connecting Kiwis with the world and welcoming visitors from around the world to Aotearoa.

“We still have seats available across our domestic and international networks, so anyone keen to embrace spontaneity and book a last-minute getaway should get in quick before seats sell out.”

Top tips for smooth sailing when flying this school holidays

• Double check the personal details on your booking are correct to avoid any airport hold-ups
• Download the Air NZ mobile app and subscribe to its Travel Alert service to keep up to date on the go
• Allow plenty of time to get to the airport and through security as it can take a little longer than usual – especially with extra winter gear
• As always, book travel insurance to ensure you’re protected in the event of a weather-related disruption (which can be more frequent in the winter months!)