New Zealand airports get set for winter holiday peak

By Andrew Curran.

New Zealand’s airports are preparing for a busy winter holiday period despite widespread economic gloom and some domestic capacity cuts. Demand for international flights, particularly trans-Tasman services, is strong and, in many cases, is outperforming demand in 2025.

The New Zealand school holidays start this weekend and are generating plenty of outbound demand towards sun destinations in Queensland and the Pacific Islands. Concurrently, planeloads of Australians, also taking advantage of their winter holiday period, are flying in for annual ski trips and wine trail crawls.

Auckland Airport (AKL), New Zealand’s busiest airport, expects to handle 1.25 million passengers between June 24 and July 19, 2026. The airport forecasts its busiest day to be June 27, when it anticipates processing around 15,000 departing passengers.

“This year the holiday period lines up across schools and universities, as well as the Australian school break,” said CCO Scott Tasker.

“While domestic travel is tracking slightly lighter than last year overall, the final day of the school term will stand out,” Tasker added. “Around 14,000 travellers are expected to depart the domestic terminal on Friday, July 3, up 2.7% on last year’s busiest day during the same holiday period, while more than 13,000 arrivals are expected, up 3% on the 2025 winter break.”

International traveller numbers at Auckland are set to exceed 680,000 over the three-week period, up 1.5% on the same period in 2025 for both departures and arrivals. However, domestic traveller numbers are expected to be slightly softer, with around 570,000 travellers passing through the airport, down 3.5% compared with last year.

There is no single standout peak for international arrivals. Instead, Auckland Airport is preparing for steady weekend demand throughout the July school holidays, with around 30,000 international travellers arriving across each of the three weekends during the holiday period.

International passenger traffic holding up well at Wellington

At Wellington Airport (WLG), available seat capacity will approach 250,000 seats over the holiday period, according to CEO Matt Clarke.

“The busiest single day will be Friday, July 17, when there will be 18,200 seats operated,” he told Aero South Pacific. “The most popular destinations from Wellington these holidays are Auckland, Christchurch, Sydney, Queenstown and Nelson.”

Similarly to Auckland, international passenger traffic is holding up well at Wellington. Clarke says many passengers are taking advantage of the Qantas network and making connections in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane to destinations across Asia.

“Fiji Airways is also very popular,” he added.

Demand is up at Christchurch Airport

At the South Island’s busiest airport, Christchurch (CHC), overall seat capacity is up compared with July 2025, while connectivity has also improved since then. The airport expects its busiest day to be July 9.

“We know it'll be a busy holiday period,” Strategic Communications Manager Sean Tully told Aero South Pacific. "With 7% more seats than last year's school holidays and our biggest-ever choice of winter destinations, Cantabrians have more opportunities to escape to warmer weather, whether that's the Gold Coast, Fiji, Rarotonga, Vanuatu or Cairns."

However, yesterday, June 25, the airport confirmed that Jetstar was axing its Christchurch – Cairns (CNS) service in late October due to “lower than expected demand”. The low-cost carrier is also ending its Auckland - Maroochydore/Sunshine Coast (MCY) flights at the same time.

In its place, Jetstar will launch Christchurch – Sydney (SYD) flights and increase frequencies on its existing Christchurch – Melbourne route. The upshot is more seat capacity through Christchurch, but one fewer destination served. Approximately 46,000 passengers have travelled on the Christchurch – Cairns route in the 14 months since it launched.

“The challenge for smaller airports is keeping their network relevant and right-sized for their catchment,” Christchurch Airport Aeronautical Development Manager Gordon Bevan posted on LinkedIn this week. “That means our customer airlines need to evolve with changes in demand.”

Queenstown Airport expects 70 flights on its busiest day

Further south, at New Zealand’s fourth-busiest airport, Queenstown (ZQN), around 10,000 passengers are expected to arrive and depart on some 70 flights on July 18, its busiest day of the holiday period.

“This region is already New Zealand’s premier winter destination,” said CEO Shane O’Hare.

More than 785,000 passengers are expected to travel through the airport between July and September. That compares with around 735,350 over the same three months in 2025. Reflecting that demand, in the past week, both Jetstar and Air New Zealand have either launched or resumed flights between Queenstown and Brisbane (BNE)

“Domestic visitors are the foundation of our winter season, while Australia remains our most important international market,” said Destination Queenstown and Lake Wānaka Tourism CEO Mat Woods. “Direct trans-Tasman flights make it easy for Australians to access the region’s ski fields, hospitality and experiences.”

“We're also seeing a meaningful lift in Chinese visitors, many travelling through New Zealand on the visa-waiver programme via Australia. Together, those markets are helping drive a positive outlook for the season ahead.”

International tourism is New Zealand’s second-largest export earner. It generates a direct GDP contribution of NZD18.1 billion (USD10.2 billion), or 4.6% of GDP.

Kiwis holidaying at home contributed another NZD28.5 billion (USD16.1 billion) to the tourism economy in the 12 months to March 31, 2026.

Notwithstanding the ongoing economic pressures, New Zealand’s airports are entering the winter holidays with some optimism. Domestic travel has softened in places. However, one of the country’s key industries continues to be underpinned by robust trans-Tasman demand and steadily climbing international visitor numbers.

Photo: Aero South Pacific.

Contact the writer: andrew@aerosouthpacific.com