Qantas expands services to Queenstown

Qantas New Zealand announced today that it would commence daily direct Boeing 737-300 services between Auckland and Queenstown from 26 October.

The new services will be preceded by the introduction of daily services from Auckland to Queenstown via Christchurch from 22 September.

Qantas Regional General Manager New Zealand and Pacific Islands Peter Collins said the new services would provide a real boost to tourism, with great connections to Qantas services to and from Australia and the USA.

"Through our New Zealand domestic operations and connections to international services, Qantas is already making a significant contribution to both inbound and domestic tourism in New Zealand," he said.

"We already operate weekly ski season services between both Sydney and Brisbane and Queenstown and are now ready to extend our domestic services to Queenstown from both Auckland and Christchurch.

"Qantas has worked closely with Destination Queenstown to develop these new Boeing 737-300 services and deliver more visitors to what is a fantastic year round destination."

From 22 September, the current weekend same plane Auckland/Christchurch/Queenstown services will become daily, providing a significant boost in capacity into Queenstown, and operate as follows:

- QF4111 Auckland/Christchurch 0825/0945; and  Christchurch/Queenstown 1020/1110

- QF4132 Queenstown/Christchurch 1210/1255; and  Christchurch/Auckland 1330/1450

From 26 October, Qantas will add the following daily direct services between Auckland and Queenstown:

- QF4191 Auckland/Queenstown 1130/1320

- QF4190 Queenstown/Auckland 1400/1550

"The Queenstown/Auckland services will provide excellent connections to Qantas' nine non-stop services each week between Auckland and Los Angeles," Mr Collins said.