Air New Zealand is using its brand new A321neo (new engine option) aircraft to increase the number of seats available on its Auckland-Gold Coast route by almost 60 percent.

From February 2019, the airline will add a new Monday return service between Auckland and the Gold Coast on the A321neo and move existing Tuesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday return services to the new aircraft.

Air New Zealand Chief Revenue Officer Cam Wallace says the aircraft has 214 seats – 46 more than the current international A320 fleet and the move to five days a week will be great for holidaymakers.

“The Gold Coast is a popular destination for Kiwi tourists and Australia is New Zealand’s largest source of inbound visitors, so it’s fantastic to be able to increase capacity to meet this demand.”

Air New Zealand’s first A321neo (new engine option) aircraft arrived in Auckland early last week after departing the Airbus facility in Hamburg. The aircraft is the first of 13 new Airbus neo aircraft to join Air New Zealand’s fleet and is expected to enter commercial service on 23 November operating flight NZ739 from Auckland to Brisbane.

A second A321neo is also expected to enter service in the coming weeks, while the majority of the remaining aircraft will follow at intervals through until late 2019, with the new fleet eventually replacing the airline’s A320s that currently operate Tasman and Pacific Island services.