Latest news with #BenjaminPaterson
Otago Daily Times
2 days ago
- Business
- Otago Daily Times
Arriving on a jet plane
Of the dozen or more planes which landed at Dunedin Airport on Tuesday, one Jetstar flight was just that little bit more special than the other arrivals. When the Airbuses' wheels hit the Momona tarmac at 2.30pm, Dunedin Airport was once again Dunedin International Airport, as the first of three scheduled weekly flights between here and the Gold Coast reconnected the southern city with Australia, and the world. To say that the flight had been eagerly awaited would be a major understatement. Southern tourism operators, already slammed by the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, have been desperate for an international flight of some description to resume on a route to Dunedin. While tens of thousands of cruise ship passengers make for a busy spring and summer, operators do bring tours to Dunedin in autumn and winter, and some visitors to southern skifields do roam further afield, there is no substitute for a potential 20,000-plus visitors a year landing at your doorstep. Quite apart from the potential tourism spend benefits of the new route for Dunedin, for families who have loved ones on either side of the Tasman, reuniting for important life milestones will now be just that little bit easier. Both they and the business community will welcome not having to book three or four connecting flights to get themselves from Dunedin to points further afield, or having to make a time-consuming drive to Queenstown or Christchurch to fly directly out of the country. The subject of international flights has been an important one for Otago Daily Times readers — it is a regular topic of letters to the editor, and even more so after local teen Benjamin Paterson launched his lobbying campaign for Dunedin to be put back on flight schedules. This was, of course, something which many people in the city had been working on for many months, although the added impetus of the publicity Benjamin gained did those working in the background no harm whatsoever. Many people, from the airport to the council to local politicians to Benjamin Patterson, can claim a moment in the sunshine which that first plane was bathed in when it landed in Dunedin on Tuesday. But in many ways the hard work starts now. As many of our aforementioned readers have noted in their letters, Jetstar is a business, not a charity, and unless people use this new route it will be closed. The expense, let alone the carbon footprint, of transtasman flights will be unjustifiable if the Airbus is full of empty seats. Dunedin's tourism operators already enthusiastically spruik the city and region's virtues to potential overseas visitors. Those efforts, not just in the Australian market but further afield, will now need to be redoubled so as to ensure a steady stream of sightseers to the city. Conference organisers should also be encouraged to put Dunedin back on their schedules, now that it is potentially easier for overseas attendees to make their way South. Inevitably, some have questioned whether Coolangatta is really the prime destination in Australia which southerners wish to travel to. But quite apart from the fact that there is plenty to recommend about its Gold Coast location, Coolangatta is an hour by road from Brisbane and its airport has regular connecting flights to all state capitals, as well as Indonesia, Canada and the United States. That does indeed make Dunedin closer to the world. The welcome mat was well and truly out on Tuesday, and hopefully it will remain so. Takutai Tarsh Kemp The death of Te Pati Māori MP Takutai Tarsh Kemp yesterday was the second time this Parliamentary term that the House has had to adjourn business as MPs mourn one of their own. She was not a prolific contributor in the debating chamber, but the kidney complaint which she quietly managed and which claimed her at the cruelly young age of 50 offers an explanation for that. It is also a reminder, as was the death of Green list MP Fa'anānā Efeso Collins last year, that there is an inequality in life expectancy statistics in New Zealand. Ms Kemp was a campaigner for Māori deprivation to be recognised and addressed, and that will be her political legacy.
1News
4 days ago
- Business
- 1News
International flights return to Dunedin
The first international flight in five years returned to Dunedin yesterday. There would now be three return Jetstar connections to the Gold Coast weekly, and the mayor said the city would build more accommodation if needed. Dunedin's first international flights landed in 1994, but paused during Covid lockdowns. Teen Benjamin Paterson petitioned to get them back, more than 25,000 signed, and he met with the Prime Minister last year to campaign. "It's really exciting to be on the first flight because it's a big honour," he told 1News, checking in. ADVERTISEMENT Benjamin Paterson. (Source: 1News) Now flying Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, Airbus A320s will deliver 58,000 seats annually, a 3.5 hour trip each way. "Back in the mid-2000s this place hosted over 100,000 international passengers a year," Dunedin Airport chief executive Daniel De Bono said. "So we know the market's there." City hotels fill up for graduations, concerts and rugby, but Dunedin's only been at 70% capacity in the latest annual data, with new visitors only staying two nights on average, booking 75,000 nights a year in total. "We're back to pre-Covid levels of accommodation," Motel on George owner Chris Roy said. The morning's headlines in 90 seconds, including Trump's swearing, thousands of new homes for Canterbury, and a strong start for Lulu Sun. (Source: Breakfast) ADVERTISEMENT Mayor Jules Radich also told 1News: "We do have enough hotel, motel accommodation here in Dunedin... But if that steady stream of visitors turns into a flood, then we will react accordingly. We will build accordingly." Australian tourists currently spend $38 million a year in Dunedin. Jetstar's also offering what's called 'open jaw ticketing' - for passengers to fly into Dunedin and out of Queenstown in one booking.
RNZ News
4 days ago
- Business
- RNZ News
Teen campaigner on hand as first Jetstar flight arrives in Dunedin from Gold Coast
The first flight touches down at Dunedin Airport on Tuesday. Photo: RNZ / Tess Brunton Orange fever has struck Dunedin as it welcomed the return of international flights after a five-year hiatus during the Covid-19 pandemic. The Jetstar service to the Gold Coast was met with cheers, celebration and airport staff clad in orange shirts as the first plane landed on Tuesday afternoon. It was an exciting moment for local teen Benjamin Paterson who launched a campaign in 2023 to bring trans-Tasman flights back to the city. "It's thrilling aye, worked hard for this and it's just shocking that it's happening right now," he said. He and his family were preparing to catch a flight to the Gold Coast - courtesy of Dunedin's mayor Jules Radich who paid for the tickets. He could not wait for the Gold Coast sunshine after lots of studying for his exams. A welcome sign at the airport. Photo: RNZ / Tess Brunton Dunedin was keen to show some southern hospitality for those arriving and to mark the milestone with orange shirts, music, welcome packs and kai. Among those landing was Dunedin resident Ben Patston who had been celebrating his birthday on the Gold Coast with his family and leapt at the chance to take a direct route home. Their trip over was much longer. "6am from here, Dunedin, to Auckland and then we actually got delayed on the way there and then Auckland to the Gold Coast, we got in at about 6pm so overall it was just a seriously long day," he said. "Compared to today, which was nice and short. We flew out at 9:30am, no delays, crew members were amazing. We had a great experience and we're back at 2:30pm." The flights will run three days a week, introducing about 58,000 seats a year. Photo: RNZ / Tess Brunton Dunedin Airport chief executive Daniel De Bono was thrilled, saying it had taken years of hard mahi to get to this point. "The best way to describe this for me is that this actually makes the world just that little bit smaller for Dunedin so we're stoked to be actually welcoming these people back," he said. Forward bookings were already looking good and he hoped travellers would use this new flight to explore the lower South Island, De Bono said. For those travelling to Australia, he said the Gold Coast did not have to be their final destination with plenty of connecting flights on offer. He was not ruling out adding more transTasman flights in the future. "For us, building to daily services to Australia is the ambition but we need to make sure that the Gold Coast service succeeds before we start adding additional flights," he said. "That's really the next phase is focusing on making sure these services remain sustainable and then potentially build frequency and then add another destination after that." On Tuesday night, the city's iconic buildings were lit up with orange lights to mark the milestone. A person watches the flight's touchdown. Photo: RNZ / Tess Brunton Radich could not wait to see more Australian travellers touch down. "Sometimes on the Gold Coast it gets too hot, so they want to come to somewhere cooler and we're cool in a couple of senses of the word," he said. "We're very cool with wildlife, we're very cool with the beaches and the surfing. We're very cool with our heritage architecture, and it's a cool place just to come and hang out and make a change from the Gold Coast." Dunedin resident Mavis was on the first flight and said it made travelling to see her family easier. "It's great. I love it. I'll be flying more to the Gold Coast now," she said. Tourism and Hospitality Minister Louise Upston said it was a milestone for the region. "When a new airline comes into an airport like Dunedin, it really shows that there is confidence in the visitor experience, confidence about growing numbers," she said. After a successful campaign, was Paterson planning to push for more direct flights? "Pretty happy to mark the Gold Coast and maybe it's someone else's job to do that," he said. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
