On 5th October, Qantas Freight announced that it would add Melbourne-Auckland to its overnight trans-Tasman freight services from 27 November 2006.

Qantas Group General Manager Freight, Mr Stephen Cleary, said the new express Qantas B767-300 service would operate four times per week between Melbourne and Auckland, significantly boosting wide body trans-Tasman freight capacity.

"These new freighter services will operate from Melbourne at 11.00pm on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays and arrive in Auckland at 4.25am the next morning," Mr Cleary said.

"As a result, late pick-up from Melbourne and next day delivery to Auckland will be available to meet the demands of the express and time definite freight and logistics market.

"Just as importantly, the Auckland-Melbourne service will operate at 2.30am every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, arriving in Melbourne at 4.25am the same morning, allowing for early delivery to the Melbourne CBD and greater metropolitan area.

"This is a first for the New Zealand market," Mr Cleary said.

"Qantas Freight first introduced this overnight/early bird concept between Sydney and Auckland in 2003 and it has been very successful, achieving 99 per cent on-time delivery, a service we are now looking forward to delivering to our Melbourne customers.

"In December 2005 we also added an Auckland-Christchurch service to facilitate the export of perishables and seafood to Australia, Asia and North America.

"This service is also performing well and we will continue to look for further opportunities to expand our services when and where we identify demand," Mr Cleary said.