The three-times-a-week Jetstar flights to and from the Gold Coast announced last month marked the end of Dunedin’s four-year absence of international flights.
Alongside the announcement, the Australian airline said a new transtasman route between Hamilton and Sydney would take off from June next year.
Brooker Travel Group managing director Andrew Carmody said it was “fantastic news” Jetstar had shown faith in Dunedin and should be congratulated for investing in the city.
But in all the excitement, Mr Carmody said he was concerned the “bigger picture” was being lost.
He expected the service would likely be dominated by Dunedin travellers as opposed to those from the Gold Coast, and Dunedin was one of many international destinations available to Australians in a very competitive market.
The Gold Coast was also “strictly a tourist destination,” not a business one, and there was a “strong argument” that the route would be in direct competition with the domestic tourism market.
The seats could have been used to connect travellers to a major hub such as Sydney, which would have “genuinely connected Dunedin to the world,” he said.
“That would have been, I believe, a bigger benefit to the city. Even a service into Brisbane, which is not as big a hub as Sydney but is a hub city, or Melbourne — any of those three major east coast cities, onward connectivity flows from that.
“If we could get a Qantas service or a codeshare with Jetstar or Air New Zealand service between Dunedin and one of those hub cities, I think that’s where the really big opportunity lies.”
Queenstown International Airport had a ceiling to its capacity, and Dunedin should be pitching how it could support its international traffic.
The introduction of the Gold Coast service was a welcome first step, Mr Carmody said.
“But let’s not lose sight of the bigger prize.
“Connectivity to an Australian hub city would deliver real benefit to the city and the province.”
A Dunedin International Airport spokeswoman said they would be focused on the the sustainability of the Gold Coast service, particularly by promoting Dunedin and the lower South to the Gold Coast and Queensland market to generate inbound visitor travel.
“We will continue to investigate any other potential opportunities to connect Dunedin and the lower South to Australia,” the spokeswoman said.
