International flights return to Dunedin
Dunedin has welcomed its first international flight since 2020.
The flight from Gold Coast Airport in Coolangatta, Queensland touched down at about 2.30pm, 15 minutes ahead of schedule.
The new thrice-weekly service marks the return of regular direct international flights at the airport, which has been without trans-Tasman services since early 2020.
With a flight time of about three and a-half hours, the service will operate on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, using Jetstar's Airbus A320ceo and A320neo aircraft, delivering up to 58,000 seats annually between the two cities.
Toitū Otago Settlers Museum, Tūhura Otago Museum, St Paul's Cathedral and the Dunedin Railway Station's clockface were all lit orange to mark the occassion.
Direct travel between Dunedin and Australia was severed when Virgin Australia suspended its New Zealand services at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, having previously offered two to three weekly flights from the city.
Dunedin Airport had since offered a couple of one-off chartered international flights, including three Qantas flights for last year's Pink concert and a Fiji Airlines flight, which transported the supporters of the Fijian Drua to watch their team's match against the Highlanders.
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Otago Daily Times
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Otago Daily Times
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I worked at Oakley's for three months and went back to South Africa for my brother's wedding and that's when we went into that second lockdown and I ended up having four months back in South Africa waiting for them to lift the bubble. "A huge factor coming back was that opportunity, as I've never worked for a company that invested so much in their staff in training. That ability to grow at Oakley's is why I'm still there. It's a really great company with a great culture." Vegetable growing's multi-faceted nature — with no day the same as the next — and the many challenges it invariably throws up appealed to him. "You might have done something one way for 10 times, and at the 11th time have to do something completely different, and need to be able to adapt and change and improvise and overcome. No two challenges are ever the same." Last year he was elevated in the business to become the production manager. 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Beyond the immediate future of the competition, Mr Rink has mentally committed to giving his all to Oakley's for the next few years. When he first started as production manager it seemed overwhelming but he's grown into the job, wanting to continue learning all he can about vegetable growing. Where that would take him next, he was unsure, but working for himself one day was on the to-do list.
