Air NZ axes Hamilton international flights

In a major blow, Hamilton International Airport has announced that Air New Zealand will axe its international flights from Hamilton to Sydney and Coolangatta.

The changes will take effect on March 29 next year.  

The announcement from Hamilton International Airport is a major blow for the airport which has recently upgraded its airport terminal.

The Hamilton-Brisbane flights will continue but will be cut from three a week to two.    

That leaves Brisbane as the only international destination from Hamilton which once had 16 weekly Air New Zealand flights to Pacific destinations including Melbourne and Fiji.  

Dunedin is also affected by the flight cutbacks, which will see will see a reduction in Brisbane and Sydney flights from seven to five a week.  

The Waikato Times revealed at the weekend international passengers numbers were down 15.8 percent (a reduction from 104,000 to 87,000) for the year to June 30.  

This is the latest chapter in a long-running saga of international flights from Hamilton.  

Air New Zealand set up a cut-price airline Freedom Air to compete with Ewan Wilson's Kiwi Air in the mid-1990's.  

Freedom Air was closed earlier this year and replaced with fully-serviced Air New Zealand flights.   

- © Fairfax NZ News