Air New Zealand Launches NZ$29 Flights Between Auckland and Wellington

Air New Zealand is launching a new daily Night Rider service with every seat on the aircraft available at a fare of NZ$29, for the last flight of the day between Auckland and Wellington.

The new service will add the equivalent of around 100,000 low cost seats per year between the two cities.

Flights will depart from both Auckland and Wellington at 10pm every night Sunday-Friday. On Saturdays Night Rider will depart Auckland for Wellington at 9pm, with the return leg departing Wellington at 10:30pm.

NZ$29 ‘Seat’ fares are available on every seat on the 133 seat Boeing 737 aircraft, or ‘Seat+Bag’ for NZ$39 one way.

The first Night Rider services will depart on Monday, 5 November 2012.

“We expect the Night Rider services to be a massive hit with our customers. There has never been a service like this in the market before with fares for an entire plane priced at $29. Customers will now be able to fly between Auckland and Wellington for less than the cost of a third of a tank of petrol for the average family car,” said Air New Zealand Chief Executive Officer, Rob Fyfe. “The domestic market is critical to the success of our business and the Night Rider flights are part of a wider strategy to stimulate more people to fly. The strategy includes the introduction of our popular standby fares on all domestic services, significant reductions to lead-in fares on both main city and regional routes and a substantial investment in new aircraft for the domestic fleet.”

In order for the airline to offer such low fares, there are a few restrictions.

“The late night flights will skip our usual inflight drink and snack service, and passengers travelling on these fares are not eligible for Koru Lounge entry prior to departure. Night Rider services cannot be booked as part of a through fare domestically or internationally and are not available to unaccompanied minors. Services may not operate on key public holidays,” Mr. Fyfe said.

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