Dunedin’s direct link to the Gold Coast has carried nearly 50,000 passengers in its first full year. Set that against the 58,000 seats a year Jetstar puts on its three weekly A320 return services and the route is running at roughly 86% full. For a low-cost carrier on a new regional route, that is a strong result.
This is not an aviation footnote. It shows that a regional airport with a clear pitch and a proven market can attract international capacity on commercial terms, and that the city behind it can absorb the visitors.
Dunedin set the bar and cleared it
When the first Jetstar flight landed in June 2025, it ended a five-year drought of international services across the lower South Island. At the time, Dunedin Airport chief executive Daniel De Bono was careful to frame it as a trial. Daily trans-Tasman flights were “the ambition but we need to make sure that the Gold Coast service succeeds before we start adding additional flights”, he said in 2025.
The demand is now on the record. Jetstar CEO Stephanie Tully says the passenger numbers show “the demand for a direct, low-fare option is real”. When the airline’s own chief executive says so publicly, the airport’s request for more frequency is a lot stronger.
A market that was already there
The route did not depend on new demand. Rachel Hancock, head of visitor economy and corporate relations at Experience Gold Coast, says New Zealand remains the Gold Coast’s largest international market, “welcoming more than 217,000 visitors in 2025”. Southern travellers no longer have to drive to Christchurch or Queenstown to reach it, and Queensland holidaymakers now have a direct way into Otago.
De Bono says there is “a huge catchment of potential visitors in Southeast Queensland”, and the airport is marketing the region there. That flow is where the value lies for local operators.
The accounts haven’t caught up yet
The airport’s financial results do not yet show any of this. Dunedin International Airport’s 2025 annual report covered the year to 30 June 2025, which included only six days of the Gold Coast service. That year total passengers fell 5.5% to 853,812, hit by softer domestic travel and Air New Zealand fleet constraints. International passengers rose from nil to 872, while operating revenue still grew 12.5% to $23.7 million.
The FY2026 accounts will be the real test. They will show what a full year of international landing fees, retail spend and car parking adds to a business whose domestic base was shrinking. For the council, which owns the airport and collects its dividends, those numbers will show how much the route earns beyond publicity.
Room to grow without a squeeze
In many tourism towns, more visitors means accommodation shortages and price spikes. Dunedin has spare capacity. In 2025 its hotels were running at roughly 70% capacity, and Australians were already spending $38 million a year in the city before the direct route started. That gap in occupancy means hospitality, tour and retail operators can take on more visitors without the infrastructure running short.
The national picture is weaker. International tourism spending reached $18.1 billion in the year to March 2025, but it remained 5.7% below 2019 levels. Border forecasters in 2025 noted that Dunedin’s and Hamilton’s new services made up “a very small share of total international passenger arrivals”. That is accurate at national scale. For Otago, the route matters much more.
One airline, one point of failure
The main risk is dependence. The whole service relies on Jetstar continuing to treat it as a priority. NZ Airports has warned that most regional routes depend on a single carrier. If Jetstar moves its aircraft to a more profitable route, the region’s international access goes with them.
A subsidy is not the answer, and the route has done well without one. The better response is to make the route more valuable to the airline. That means business events, education and labour links, as well as leisure travel. BERL’s work on regional connectivity argues that a route’s value shows up in investment, labour mobility and conferences as much as in seat counts. Dunedin’s university, hospital and events calendar give it plenty to promote.
A year ago Dunedin said it would prove the demand before asking for more. It has done that. The next step is to push Jetstar for more frequency while the numbers are strong, and to make sure the FY2026 accounts show that the airport and the city are earning from the extra visitors.
Sources
- Otago Daily Times: Dunedin-Gold Coast flights attract 50,000 passengers in first full year (2026-10-05)
- Dunedin Airport: Nearly 50,000 passengers fly Jetstar’s Dunedin-Gold Coast route in first year (2026-06-24)
- RNZ: Teen campaigner on hand as first Jetstar flight arrives in Dunedin from Gold Coast (2025-06-25)
- Enterprise Dunedin (LinkedIn): Gold Coast-Dunedin service has exceeded expectations (2026-06-24)
- 1News: International flights return to Dunedin (2025-06-25)
- Stats NZ: Tourism Satellite Account, year ended March 2025 (2025-03-31)
- MBIE TEIC: Tourism Satellite Account data tables and historical trends (2025-03-31)
- NZ Customs: Update of forecast scenarios for passengers and cargo (2025-07)
- BERL: Getting there matters, what airport connectivity means for regional economies
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