QANTAS: Boosts seasonal flights across the Tasman to New Zealand

Qantas has announced increased flights across the Tasman to New Zealand for the southern hemisphere summer. The increased schedule will be active for the six weeks between 15 December 2025 and 26 January 2026

This corresponds to the height of the Christmas (School) Holiday period in Australia and New Zealand.

The tickets for these additional flights, which add 20% of seats to some routes, are on sale now.

Anything unusual about this?

Not really, except that Qantas is also deploying a Boeing 787 Dreamliner on the Brisbane to Auckland route starting in August 2025. That will mean Premium Economy will also be available on these flights.

The Dreamliner service will initially operate three times per week, then daily from October 2025. This joins the existing Dreamliner service from QF3 and QF4 Sydney to Auckland as part of the route to New York via Auckland.

Additional flights across the Tasman

The table below sets out the additional flights compared to the standard frequency.

Route	Current schedule	Seasonal summer change
Sydney – Auckland	35 flights per week (Boeing 737 only)	Up to 6 additional flights/week
Sydney – Christchurch	14 flights per week	Up to 7 additional flights/week
Sydney – Wellington	14 flights per week	Up to 5 additional flights/week
Melbourne – Auckland	28 flights per week	Up to 7 additional flights/week
Melbourne – Christchurch	11 flights per week	Up to 3 additional flights/week
Melbourne – Queenstown	4 flights per week	Up to 2 additional flights/week
Brisbane – Queenstown	4 flights per week	Up to 3 additional flights/week

2PAXfly Takeout

I’ve been heading to New Zealand at least a couple of times a year for the last three or more years. Now, I do that partly to increase my Qantas status during Double Status Credits promotions. If you head to New Zealand via another Australian capital city in Business Class, you can earn around half the points you need to retain Platinum Status in one trip.

Also, New Zealand never disappoints. It has some of the most spectacular scenery, great wineries, and good hotels and guest houses. And, the people are hospitable and lovely. Where else would you meet a local in a hotel foyer, who would drop you off at the airport, just because they can?