Thousands of Kiwis hitting the skies over Queen's Birthday weekend

Thousands of Kiwis will be hitting the skies over the long weekend, as domestic travel starts to pick up once more after the coronavirus outbreak.

Nearly 400 flights are scheduled in and out of Auckland's domestic and international airports as New Zealand celebrates Queen's Birthday.

Auckland Airport's general manager of operations, Anna Cassels-Brown, said those numbers were nowhere near what the terminals would see over a normal Queen's Birthday weekend, but it was a huge increase as the country settled into alert level 2.

"That's an encouraging sign that people are confident and ready to fly within New Zealand for business, recreation and to reconnect with friends and family."

The busiest flights out of Auckland this weekend are those to Christchurch (46 flights) and Wellington (44 flights).

Four trips to Sydney are also scheduled.

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On a normal Queen's Birthday weekend, the airport would cater to up to 1200 domestic journeys and 600 international flights.

Because of ongoing Covid-19 restrictions around the world and in New Zealand, there are 80 per cent fewer flights overall.

That percentage was made up of 70 per cent fewer flights around the country and 95 per cent fewer international flights.

Since the country transitioned into level 2, more than 2000 passengers used Auckland's domestic terminal each day. At alert level 3, that figure was around the 600 mark.

Cassels-Brown said the terminals, which remain restricted to passengers holding a ticket to travel on the same day, continued to be carefully managed to maintain cleanliness and physical distancing measures.