Auckland Airport said in its latest statement that the 74,000 increase, compared with March 2017, was due to both the Easter holiday period starting in late-March this year, compared to mid-April in 2017 and strong capacity growth on the Asia and Middle East (+24,000 seats), Americas (+14,000 seats) and the Pacific Islands (+14,000 seats) routes.

Increased capacity announced in March included Air New Zealand’s launching of a new three flights per week service between Auckland and Chicago, which starts in November and will provide more than 85,000 seats on the new route.

“United Airlines has also announced that it will extend its seasonal service between Auckland and San Francisco to year-round, operating a B777-200 aircraft three times per week during the northern summer season from April 2019,” said the airport.

Air New Zealand and Virgin Australia both announced increases in their trans-Tasman capacity, following the decision to end their alliance. From December 2018, Air New Zealand will be adding 15% capacity on its Auckland services and Virgin Australia will increase frequency, up to triple daily on Sydney and up to double daily on both Melbourne and Brisbane.

“From December 2018, Air New Zealand will be adding 15% capacity on its Auckland services and Virgin Australia will increase frequency, up to triple daily on Sydney and up to double daily on both Melbourne and Brisbane,” said Auckland Airport.

Philippine Airlines announced that it would upgrade the aircraft used on its Auckland service from June 2018. The change to the new, three-class A330 aircraft will increase the overall route capacity by 22%.

Domestic passengers increased 8.8% to 878,092.

See also:

Wellington's new DoubleTree by Hilton set to open

World class luxury island lodge for sale

New Zealand's latest hotel market report released