25 Jun 2023

No plan for international services to return to Dunedin Airport

3:11 pm on 25 June 2023
Dunedin Airport

Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King

Dunedin Airport looks set to remain a domestic airport for a while yet.

Virgin Australia flew direct weekly flights between Brisbane and Dunedin until all of its New Zealand services were suspended at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The service has not been resumed since the border reopened.

Dunedin Airport confirmed it was continuing to engage with airlines and look for opportunities to reconnect the southern city to Australia.

Virgin Australia said it resumed flights between Australia and Aotearoa in November, with regular services connecting Queenstown to Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne.

The airline was boosting its Queenstown services for the ski season but no further trans-Tasman announcements had been made, Virgin Australia said.

Air New Zealand short haul general manager Jeremy O'Brien said there was currently no plans to fly a Brisbane to Dunedin service as the available fleet was already operating at full capacity.

"As always, we continue to monitor demand between the two destinations."

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