Air New Zealand may consider expanding ''Night Rider'' to Queenstown and Dunedin after the airline announced its popular no-frills low-price service will cover Christchurch from November.
Night Rider offers every seat on the last flight of the day between Auckland and Wellington at a lower price.
From November 7, every seat on 9.30pm flights between Auckland and Christchurch in both directions, Thursdays to Mondays, will cost $39, or $49 for a ''seat + bag''.
Air NZ group general manager New Zealand and Pacific Islands Cam Wallace said he hoped the service would stimulate travel demand and tourism activity for both cities.
''Night Rider has proven extremely popular with customers since it was introduced between Auckland and Wellington last year and we expect seats will sell out just as fast on the new Christchurch service,'' Mr Wallace said.
The Christchurch Night Rider will launch in time for the summer holiday season and will allow Aucklanders and Cantabrians to take advantage of cheap air fares to events such as Canterbury Cup and Show Week and the Wellington Phoenix A-League match in Christchurch and the Big Day Out in Auckland, Mr Wallace said.
An Air NZ spokesman said the popularity of the Night Rider service between Auckland and Wellington was a key driver of the Christchurch-Auckland last flight of the day offer.
''Early indications are positive for this new service and we wouldn't rule out potential future extensions,'' he said, when asked if the service might be introduced to Queenstown and Dunedin airports.
