Asia’s leading great value medium haul airline AirAsia X today announces the resumption of the popular Gold Coast - Auckland route from 3 February 2024 in response to strong demand.

At the same time the airline will be suspending services on the Auckland - Sydney route from 31 January 2024 to facilitate the new services to and from the Gold Coast.

AirAsia X CEO Benyamin Ismail said: “Following a thorough network review, we have decided to suspend our services between Sydney and Auckland from late January next year. However, we remain committed to Auckland as a destination and will be transferring our services from Auckland to Gold Coast starting 3 February 2024.

“As our very first route which commenced just over 16 years ago, the Gold Coast continues to be a key leisure favourite destination for our Auckland and Asian travellers with its world renowned white sand beaches and famous theme parks. It’s also a hugely popular destination for visiting friends and family both ways and also for students studying.

“These decisions are made with thorough review and careful consideration of all relevant information. Our network will continue to evolve based on a number of factors but primarily based on consumer demand. We understand the inconvenience for affected guests booked on the Sydney - Auckland route next year so we are doing all we can to minimise any disruption by contacting them as soon as possible and offering a range of provisions including refund, credit to fly at another time and free of charge transfer via Gold Coast for those booked from Auckland to Kuala Lumpur.

“We will continue to monitor the situation and if demand returns we will consider reinstating the Sydney - Auckland service at a later date. However for now and as a leisure focused airline we are seeing more demand across the Tasman to and from the Gold Coast.”

Queensland Airports Limited Chief Commercial Officer Adam Rowe said the return of AirAsia X’s Gold Coast to Auckland connection would provide more options for travellers.

“This is a welcomed addition to our network and exciting news for travellers - flights between the Gold Coast and Auckland are our busiest international connection, with more than 220,000 passengers travelling on that route since January,” he said.

“Around 60 percent of passengers travelling between the Gold Coast and New Zealand fly to or from Auckland, and the return of this service will add more than 350,000 extra seats on that route annually,” Mr Rowe said.

“The addition of AirAsia X’s Auckland service will give our customers more choice to connect with loved ones across the Tasman, while also creating more competition and helping to put downward pressure on airfares.”

Three weekly flights from Auckland to Gold Coast take flight from 3 February connecting seamlessly to Kuala Lumpur and adding an additional 6,786 visitor seats weekly through Gold Coast Airport.

Fares are on sale today from 3pm Gold Coast/5pm NZ time, starting from just AUD199/NZ179* for travel between Auckland and the Gold Coast commencing 3 February 2024.