Flight International online news 11:00GMT: Virgin Blue subsidiary Pacific Blue is launching a weekly non-stop service tomorrow linking Auckland with Rarotonga in the Cook Islands but it is suspending its Sydney-Rarotonga service which went via Christchurch in New Zealand.
A Pacific Blue spokeswoman in Christchurch says: “We are suspending the Christchurch service end of this month because it was only ever a seasonal service” mostly aimed at tourists.
“But Auckland-Rarotonga will be a year-round service because there is so much traffic from friends and relatives” wishing to visit people in the Cook Islands, the spokeswoman adds.
Pacific Blue’s weekly service from New Zealand’s largest city Auckland to Rarotonga, a main island in the Cook Islands, will be operated with Boeing 737-800s.
Pacific Blue is the New Zealand-based international arm of Australia’s Virgin Blue.
LEITHEN FRANCIS/SINGAPORE
Source: Flight International
