Originair resumes its flight schedule today with strong Queen’s Birthday weekend bookings

Originair resumes its flight schedule on the Nelson–Palmerston North and Nelson–Wellington routes today with strong Queen’s Birthday weekend bookings.

“We are sorry we haven’t been able to help everyone wanting to travel over the busy Queen’s Birthday weekend as the seat numbers we can offer have had to be reduced to meet requirements for physical distancing,” says Originair CEO Robert Inglis.

“We have achieved this by only selling our window seats. This means that the number of seats available for sale is reduced to 67 percent of the aircraft’s seat capacity.”

There are still seats available on flights between 2-4 June if customers would like to contribute to Originair’s fundraising efforts for the Salvation Army. As announced earlier this month, Originair is donating passenger fare revenues generated from the first week of resumed flights to the Salvation Army, which will use the money to support its food banks in Nelson Tasman, Palmerston North, and Wellington.

Meanwhile Inglis is hopeful that the government may soon be able to announce physical distancing requirements no longer apply for air travel. “But that step can only come when the government decides that it is safe to do so.”

Inglis says that fares for the resumed flight schedule have not been increased, even though reduced seats are available for sale on each flight and costs associated with providing the service remain the same.

Inglis says that the company is very grateful to its passengers for their support and hopes that people’s confidence in resuming travelling will continue to grow.

“We look forward to seeing this growing confidence reflected in customers booking flights with Originair over the coming weeks and months,” says Inglis.

Originair’s flight schedule covers flights through until Spring, and bookings can be made here.