Air New Zealand has announced there will be fewer daily direct flights between Rotorua and Wellington for a short-term period.

The national carrier said in a statement today it had made some minor changes to its domestic and regional schedule as part of its regular network review process.

The changes will be applied between February and June 2025 and will result in 2% fewer seats on the domestic network during the four-month period.

“Softened demand on Wellington routes will see the removal of the evening arrival and early morning departure on the Rotorua to Wellington service, however, the airline was supporting the ongoing tourism recovery and demand from business travellers to restore an early morning departure and evening arrival on the Rotorua to Auckland service,” the statement said.

“While the Wellington route change may be inconvenient for some customers, business travellers will be able to connect to a Wellington service via Auckland.”

Air New Zealand said the adjustments to the Rotorua to Auckland service would allow, for the first time since the Covid pandemic, a full business day in Auckland.

“They will also provide a more seamless connection for inbound visitors and outbound travellers to the region from the airline’s international network, which the region has been advocating for.”

Rotorua Airport chief executive Nicole Brewer said the schedule changes were driven by travel demand and reflected a “softening” in travel to Wellington from destinations across the country.

“This is an understandable response from Air New Zealand, and while we know the reinstatement of the early morning and evening flights to/from Auckland will be celebrated by our local business community, equally, the Wellington schedule change will be a frustration to others.

“Rotorua Airport, alongside Rotorua NZ and others, have put a priority focus on collecting data and insights for Air New Zealand to help inform their decisions. This work won’t stop, and the airport and Air New Zealand are continuing to work together with a further focus on reliability, so travellers can have confidence in the flight schedule.”

Rotorua NZ chief executive Andrew Wilson said the new overnight Auckland flight, in particular, was an important boost to Rotorua’s tourism sector.

“We’re pleased that Air New Zealand have taken into consideration our insights and feedback from local people captured in our most recent business pulse survey.

“These latest schedule changes are a good start, although also bring challenges, and we’ll continue to strengthen our engagement and relationship with the airline on shared objectives.”

The changes come into effect from February 17, 2025.

-Rotorua Daily Post