Another airline is reducing one of its routes out of Dunedin. Air New Zealand will cut more than 20,000 seats a year from its Dunedin-Wellington service as it focuses on direct flights from the southern city to Auckland. From tomorrow, the national carrier will reduce the number of Airbus A320 flights it uses for return trips between Dunedin and Wellington from 19 to 15 a week. Instead, smaller ATR-72s would be used for those flights, adding to the one it already operates. There is no reduction in the number of flights on the route. An Air New Zealand spokeswoman said more business travellers were choosing to fly direct to Auckland instead of transiting through the capital after five more return flights were added last year. As a result, about 70,000 seats were added to the route, increasing seat capacity about 25%, the spokeswoman said. Changes would also be made to the Dunedin to Wellington schedule, as the 7.35pm flight from Dunedin to Wellington would move to a 4.45pm departure four days a week and 4.55pm on Fridays and Sundays, she said. The last flight of the day from Wellington remained at 7.15pm. Dunedin Airport business development general manager Megan Crawford said the airport was committed to working with partners to grow the Dunedin-Wellington service. Last month Air New Zealand rival Jetstar announced it was suspending its return flights between Wellington and Dunedin. The final service, which runs three times a week, would be on Wednesday, May 29.
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