Japan charters boom for Air NZ

Air New Zealand will be more than tripling its charter flights from Japan to New Zealand this summer in response to a boom in visitors from the high-spending tourism market. 

"This is a huge increase from the four charter flights we operated last summer, and is solid proof of the strong market recovery we are witnessing here," said Edward Overy, Air New Zealand's general manager for Japan.  

The national carrier said it will operate 14 return charter flights to Auckland from nine departure points across Japan between December and April 2011, and could potentially add another 3,000 visitors to the summer tally. 

Short term visitors from Japan jumped 123% in June from the same month a year earlier, to 5,240, according to data from Statistics NZ, but still well below historical highs and down 28% from June 2008 levels.

Japan, New Zealand's fifth largest tourism market, contributed almost 85,000 visitors last year with numbers recovering in the wake of the global recession.  

Additionally, Japanese tourists also spend more than any other nationality, averaging $4,600 in expenditure per visitor. 

The chartered service is being offered from Nagoya, Fukuoka, Sapporo, Okinawa, Sendai, Kumamoto, Hiroshima, Miyazaki and Kagoshima. 

Businesswire.co.nz

Comments from our readers

No comments yet

Add your comment:

Your name:
Your email:	Not displayed to the public
Comment:
Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved.

Anti-spam verification:

Type the text you see in the image into the field below. You are asked to do this in order to verify that this enquiry is not being performed by an automated process.

Related News:

Air NZ plans to raise stake in Virgin Australia to 25.9 percent after gaining approvals
Air NZ keeps balance sheet plump, holds back on dividends as fleet renewal looms
Air New Zealand plans to close Auckland maintenance facility, cut 180 jobs, union says
Air NZ's Safe Air unit cuts 84 jobs in Blenheim as contracts end
Air NZ agrees to settle cartel case, expects earnings at upper end of guidance
Air NZ lifts stake in Virgin Australia to 23 percent , may creep up to 26 percent
Air NZ backs down on challenge to cargo suit against regulator
Air New Zealand reviews Japan flights as decline in yen makes travel more expensive
Ex-Foodstuffs boss Carter to head up Air NZ board
Air NZ shares jump 5.6 percent as airline flags annual earnings to more than double