Sydney direct flights have returned to Rotorua - the first one of the summer bringing with it a mix of holiday makers, family reunions and expats coming home.
And while it's still early days, Rotorua Airport chief executive says bookings for the peak summer months are looking "reasonably solid".
There was no direct service between Rotorua and Australia over winter, however twice-weekly summer flights to and from Sydney resumed yesterday. The first flight landed at Rotorua Airport on time at 2.45pm, returning to Sydney an hour later.
Airport chief executive Alastair Rhodes said extensive marketing to promote the flights was under way with Air New Zealand and its Australian partner Virgin, Destination Rotorua, local event promoters, tourism operators and media agencies in Sydney.
"Our focus is on creating targeted campaigns to reach directly into our target audience - ie, people travelling to Rotorua for events. Such campaigns have proven extremely cost-efficient and effective for the airport, allowing us to reach large numbers of people and giving us a bigger, better bang for our spend."