Following a five-year pause, Qantas has officially launched services between Auckland and the Gold Coast and introduced business class on the route.
The thrice weekly services, with its premium offering, are being welcomed by the Gold Coast tourism plant, as the destination looks to increase the profile of its high-end offering with Kiwi travellers, and travel agents.
To that end a group, of Kiwi consultants was on yesterday’s ‘inaugural’ flight and is experiencing the Gold Coast’s premium offering which has so far included a charter sunset cruise and dinner at the Star’s 19 Restaurant and staying at the beach front Mondrian Hotel in Burleigh.
Queensland Airports Limited ceo Amelia Evans says QF’s return on the route strengthens OOL’s position as Australia’s most connected airport to New Zealand.
“We are thrilled to welcome QF back to our international network, further strengthening connectivity across the Tasman and providing customers with a business class option,” says Evans.
“Auckland is our busiest international route, with around 330,000 people travelling between the two cities in the past year alone and flights averaging around 90% full—a clear reflection of the demand between our two regions,” says the OOL boss.
Experience Gold Coast CEO John Warn says the return of QF’s AKL OOL flights ‘is fantastic for our city and tourism industry’.
“New Zealand is our largest international market with 217,000 Kiwis choosing to visit our city last year, so expanding connectivity between our two destinations is vital to meet growing demand,” he says.
“With more than 7000 of those visitors travelling here for business, the introduction of a business class option on the new QF service will be a welcome addition.”
. . . The Details
The AKL-OOL service is operating on Tue, Thu and Sat by a 737 aircraft, depart Auckland at 1020 and arriving in Gold Coast at 1200.
It adds 52,000 seats on the route, which has been supported by the Queensland Government and Experience Gold Coast through the Connecting Queensland Fund. See tomorrow’s issue for more from the Gold Coast.
