Air New Zealand has partnered with several organisations to launch a campaign that encourages travellers to use its “multi-stop booking tool”. 

If you’re like most travellers, you book flights by plugging your home city and destination into a search bar on an airline’s website or search platform like Google Flights, and check the box that says “return”. 

Whether you’re visiting Sicily or Sydney, you may travel around, but return to the original destination to catch your flight home. Alternatively, you make two bookings; one from your home to a destination then a second from a new destination back home, with a plan to travel between the destinations during your trip. 

However, Air New Zealand has a little-known trick that can make multi-stop trips simpler to plan and has launched an entire campaign to educate travellers about it. 

Named the Southern Way, the campaign encourages customers to use the airline’s multistop booking tool, which enables travellers to fly into one airport but out of another. 

Air New Zealand has launched a website page dedicated to the campaign. Photo / Air New Zealand 

The tool has been around for a while, but the airline wanted to raise awareness for Kiwis or visitors exploring New Zealand, a spokesperson told the Herald. 

Southern Way is focused on the South Island and the airline has partnered with Southern Airport Alliance and eight Southern Regional Tourism Organisations — a collaboration it described as “groundbreaking”. 

“The Southern Airports Alliance (Queenstown, Invercargill, and Dunedin airports) and the eight southern Regional Tourism Organisations (RTOs) working collectively under the banner of Southern Way have formed a groundbreaking partnership to make it easy for people to explore the lower half of the South Island,” a statement said. 

With the slogan “one trip to see it all”, the campaign encourages visitors to fly into one of three airports, rent a vehicle to explore the regions and fly home from another airport. The campaign also highlights how passengers can book their rental car at the same time as booking a flight. 

Queenstown Airport acting chief executive Todd Grace said it was “excited” by the campaign and the opportunities it would open up. 

“We believe there are real benefits for everyone in spreading visitors widely around the region rather than having them concentrated in a few hotspots,” he said. 

Air New Zealand has created a page on its website dedicated to the campaign that offers itineraries and inspiration to help people plan. 

Three days long, the Nature Seeker itinerary recommends flying into Dunedin Airport, driving along the Catlins Coast to Bluff, catching a ferry to Stewart Island then flying home from Invercargill Airport. 

The Waitaki Way, meanwhile, is six days long and details exactly how adventurous travellers can see the best of Ōamaru, Ōmārama, Wānaka and Queenstown.