Air New Zealand is gearing up for a busy July after announcing the relaunch of 14 international routes in 16 days.
With these routes back in action, the airline will be operating at 60 percent of its international capacity - the most international flying in the last two years, it said.
From July 9, the airline will have three quarters of its international and domestic routes back up and running, including popular destinations like Honolulu, Houston and Tahiti.
They are restarting after around 820 days of not operating due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Boeing 777-300 aircraft will also be back flying passengers, helping add around 40,000 seats per week in July on the international network.
Air New Zealand CEO Greg Foran said it took a village to get the airline back up and running and is incredibly proud of the sheer amount of work the team has done.
"To bring one Boeing 777-300 out of storage in Auckland takes around six to eight weeks to get it ready for the skies," he said.
"We've hired or rehired more than 2000 Air New Zealanders across the business including 150 pilots, more than 500 cabin crew, and 270 airport employees, with another 1100 vacancies to be filled.
"It's no easy feat but we're getting back to where we were so we can give our customers that Air New Zealand service they know and love," Foran said.
News came on the same day it was revealed the company had started to offer cash bonuses to staff to help with recruitment. Up to $1400 is payable to entice people to work for the company, presuming they stay for a year after recruitment.
"We're seeing first hand how keen people are to travel again, particularly across the Tasman. Come July, we will double our services across the Tasman and restart popular direct services like the Sunshine Coast, Hobart and Adelaide," Foran said.
"By July 9 we will be back to all nine Australian ports which is an important milestone for us. I'd like to thank our customers for their patience while we get back to where we were pre-COVID, as well as our teams who are working hard to gear back up.
"Getting aircraft out of storage, people back in, opening ports, and working with new travel requirements, there's a lot to consider, and the Air New Zealand team are doing their very best to make it happen as quickly as possible."
Air New Zealand's restart schedule is as follows:
From Auckland
- Honolulu restarts on July 4, with three flights per week
- Tahiti restarts on July 6, with two flights per week
- New Caledonia restarts on July 6, with two flights per week
- Houston restarts on July 7, with three flights per week
- Adelaide restarts on July 6, with 3-4 flights per week
- Cairns restarts on July 5, with three flights per week
- Hobart restarts on July 7, with two flights per week
- Sunshine Coast restarts on July 9, with two flights per week
From Christchurch
- Gold Coast restarts on July 3, with 4-2 flights per week
- Nadi restarts on July 5, with 3-2 flights per week
From Wellington
- Nadi restarts on July 5, with 3-2 flights per week
From Queenstown
- Brisbane restarts on June 24, with 4-3 flights per week
- Melbourne restarts on June 24, with 7-6 flights per week
- Sydney restarts on June 25, with 9-5 flights per week
