Pacific Blue announces Hamilton flights

Pacific Blue has confirmed the launch of a trans-Tasman service out of Hamilton, filling the gap left when Air New Zealand axed international flights from the city in April.

The Christchurch-based airline, a subsidiary of Virgin Blue, has been operating at the four main airports for 18 months.

From the first week of September, it will offer six direct flights from Hamilton to Australia weekly – three to Sydney and three to Brisbane.

Connecting fares will be offered to Perth, Melbourne, Canberra and other Australian and international destinations.

To mark the launch, the airline today announced a two-week sale of special introductory one-way internet fares of $169 to Sydney and $199 to Brisbane.

It said its regular fares would be at least 25 percent lower than fares currently available for connecting flights from Hamilton to Brisbane or Sydney on other airlines.

Virgin Blue Group chief executive Brett Godfrey said although times were tough the airline was always on the lookout to enter markets that were "under-served".

"As Hamilton currently has no international services in place, it was an obvious opportunity for us," he said.

The airline was shuffling capacity and, as a result of the new services, some flights from other New Zealand cities, including to the Pacific, would be reduced.

The decision to begin services from Hamilton was based partly on the huge support the Waikato business community had shown the airline, Mr Godfrey said.

Air New Zealand said it scrapped its international service from Hamilton because not enough people used the flights, and more than 90 percent of those who did bought the cheapest fares.

Pacific Blue's announcement comes as competition in New Zealand skies hots up, with low-fares airline Jetstar due to expand its services next week.

- NZPA