The cooler latitudes of New Zealand continues to exert a hold over for Brisbane Airport travellers as families seek overseas holidays close to home.
And Jetstar has just launched a new winter service from the airport to Queenstown with Air New Zealand following suit on Monday with three weekly flights.
The airport says they expect more than 2.3 million passengers to pass through during the winter school holidays (June 19-July 20).
It says strong demand for international travel, particularly to New Zealand, is set to drive the holiday surge, with families looking for destinations closer to home.
Brisbane Airport Chief Executive Officer Gert-Jan de Graaff says high demand these holidays means travellers need to be prepared.
“Traffic around the terminals, parking, check-in, bag drop, our new security lanes and our shops will all be busier than usual, so arriving the normal 90 minutes before a domestic flight and three hours before an international remains important,” he says.
COOLER CLIME PROVES POPULAR
“New Zealand is proving incredibly popular with Queenslanders this winter, and there are still plenty of travellers heading away for a European summer too.”
There were 1.34 million passengers on Brisbane-NZ routes in the 12 months ending in March, the airport says, using data collected from passenger arrival cards by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
Europe also remains a highly sought-after destination, especially the United Kingdom, with 1.23 million annual passengers; almost 1000 Queenslanders travel to Europe daily from Brisbane, passenger card data shows.
TRAVEL ADVISORIES
The popularity has been boosted by Emirates and China Eastern Airlines flights after government downgraded its travel advisories to the Middle East.
The Foreign Affairs Department lowered its travel advice for Bahrain, Israel, Kuwait, Qatar and United Arab Emirates (UAE) from ‘Do Not Travel’ (Level 4) to ‘Reconsider your need to travel’ (Level 3) while some areas within Israel remain at Level 4.
Also on the ‘Do Not Travel’ list are Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria and Yemen, while Jordan, Oman and Saudi Arabia are at Level 3.
Australians who require consular assistance should contact the department’s 24/7 Consular Emergency Centre on 1300 555 135 (within Australia) or +61 2 6261 3305 (from overseas).
Click here to visit the Smartraveller website for travel information.
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