Air New Zealand's record-breaking afternoon - 110,000 seats snapped up as Covid rules relaxed

Air NZ has announced that Monday afternoon’s rush to buy seats after the Covid rules were relaxed has resulted in a blockbuster afternoon of sales. The airline sold 110,000 seats compared to the usual 31,000 per day pre-Covid-19. The national carrier had put 180,000 tickets on sale, with 160,000 available for under $50. The government's decision to relax physical distancing rules on public transport has seen airlines promise to increase flights and release hundreds of thousands of cheap airfares to encourage domestic travel. As soon as the announcement was made that distancing would no longer be required on planes, Air NZ CEO Greg Foran says the airline immediately made more tickets available. In six hours, the airline sold 70,000 seats on Monday, he says. Foran said this is what happens when the airline has the opportunity to operate the domestic airline at full potential. During level one, the airline's prices increased by 13%. "When you can only sell basically half the seats you're pretty sub-optimised in your operation. When all of a sudden you can unmask 50 per cent of your inventory available for customers what happens is that creates a situation." Jetstar coming back into the market has played somewhat into the decision, he said. Jetstar announced it will resume domestic flights from Thursday, following a four-week suspension.<br/>