On May 23, Air New Zealand announced that it will introduce a direct summer flight between Queenstown and Melbourne.

Group General Manager Short Haul Airlines Norm Thompson confirmed that the airline would launch a new summer service between Queenstown and Melbourne.

The service will run each Saturday from December 22 to March 29, using an Airbus A320 aircraft. Currently customers wanting to travel to Queenstown in the summer months have to fly via either Auckland or Christchurch.

While Air New Zealand has historically operated a Queenstown-Melbourne flight during the July-September ski season, Mr Thompson said it was keen to encourage tourists to spend time in Queenstown in the summer months.

"Queenstown offers an enormous range of outdoor adventure activities that make it a compelling destination throughout the year - there's everything on offer from tramping and trekking to white-water rafting and bungy jumping. There is significant new investment going into quality hotels and golf courses in the Queenstown region, catering for the high end luxury market."

Mr Thompson said the airline had great confidence in the new route given the popularity of direct flights between Queenstown and Sydney twice a week during the summer months.