First international flight returns to Dunedin
Dunedin has welcomed its first international flight since 2020.
The flight from Gold Coast Airport in Coolangatta, Queensland touched down at about 2.30pm, 15 minutes ahead of schedule.
The new thrice-weekly service marks the return of regular direct international flights at the airport, which has been without transtasman services since early 2020.
With a flight time of about three and a-half hours, the service will operate on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, using Jetstar's Airbus A320ceo and A320neo aircraft, delivering up to 58,000 seats annually between the two cities.
Toitū Otago Settlers Museum, Tūhura Otago Museum, St Paul's Cathedral and the Dunedin Railway Station's clockface were all lit orange to mark the occassion.
Direct travel between Dunedin and Australia was severed when Virgin Australia suspended its New Zealand services at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, having previously offered two to three weekly flights from the city.
Dunedin Airport had since offered a couple of one-off chartered international flights, including three Qantas flights for last year's Pink concert and a Fiji Airlines flight, which transported the supporters of the Fijian Drua to watch their team's match against the Highlanders.
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Otago Daily Times
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Young grower relishing NZ opportunities
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I worked at Oakley's for three months and went back to South Africa for my brother's wedding and that's when we went into that second lockdown and I ended up having four months back in South Africa waiting for them to lift the bubble. "A huge factor coming back was that opportunity, as I've never worked for a company that invested so much in their staff in training. That ability to grow at Oakley's is why I'm still there. It's a really great company with a great culture." Vegetable growing's multi-faceted nature — with no day the same as the next — and the many challenges it invariably throws up appealed to him. "You might have done something one way for 10 times, and at the 11th time have to do something completely different, and need to be able to adapt and change and improvise and overcome. No two challenges are ever the same." Last year he was elevated in the business to become the production manager. 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Otago Daily Times
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Longtime chairman made life member of national association
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Somewhere between the over-optimism of some and the pessimism of others lies the truth about the future viability of Dunedin's Forsyth Barr Stadium. Next month it will be 14 years since then prime minister John Key opened the $224 million stadium, just a month before the start of the 2011 Rugby World Cup. That the stadium was ever built was, in some ways, a miracle. There were many concerns raised at the time about the realities of such a project, including the economics of constructing such a large venue so distant from the country's larger population centres where big overseas sporting and musical acts are typically held. The stadium debate was acrimonious and divisive, leading to court cases and much bitterness among residents. Even when it eventually opened, and despite the hoopla, the events were slow to come. A memorably windy Elton John concert in November 2011 was the first to be held under its draughty roof. But in one of those bizarre twists of fate, the Christchurch earthquake of February that year wrecked Jade Stadium and kick-started a slowly growing momentum which would act in Dunedin's favour for more than a decade. With Christchurch off the grid as far as major events were concerned — not only because of a lack of a major venue but also because of accommodation, hospitality and other logistical problems — Forsyth Barr Stadium could flourish. And flourish the Dunedin stadium has. It held several 2011 Rugby World Cup games which the quake-damaged Christchurch was unable to run. It is the home ground for the Highlanders and Otago rugby teams and has hosted test matches and Rugby World Cup games. It has also been a venue for rugby league fixtures and for the 2015 Fifa Under-20 World Cup. International acts have performed at the stadium and transformed the city, including Pink, Kendrick Lamar, Shania Twain, Robbie Williams, The Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, Rod Stewart, Neil Diamond, even Black Sabbath. Oh, and don't forget Ed Sheeran. How could we. Of all the concerts held at the stadium, the Sheeran performancers of Easter 2018 were highlights, generating an estimated $38m for the city's economy from the more than 65,000 visitors. Unfortunately, Sheeran will not be performing in Dunedin when he returns to New Zealand in January, opting instead for Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, where he is expected to be the last act at the temporary stadium before the city's new venue, Te Kaha, opens. Some people have taken to calling this a snub. In some ways that view is understandable. After all, Sheeran's visit seven years ago was a huge high spot for Dunedin and the South. Sheeran became "one of ours". The mural in Bath St remains for all to see, long after the performances have drifted off into the ether. To suggest a deliberate rejection of the stadium and the city by Sheeran, though, is an overreaction, although there have been suggestions he wasn't happy with the sound system. What this does do, however, is sharpen minds to consider what life may be like for Forsyth Barr once the Christchurch stadium is up and running. A large shadow seems to be looming just over the shoulder. There can be little doubt that Christchurch's Te Kaha poses a significant threat to the Dunedin stadium. It will have several major advantages. Firstly, it will be 15 years newer and will benefit from the novelty aspect of that and of Christchurch's new and vibrant inner-city hospitality. Secondly, Christchurch is a much larger city than Dunedin — with a population around 420,000 it is more than three times as big — and, thirdly, it has a major international airport with direct flights from Australia, Southeast Asia and North America. Those are selling points which any promoter and artist will find hard to look past. Tougher times certainly lie ahead for Dunedin's stadium and for when it comes to easy access to international acts and sporting fixtures for people in the South. However, we should not wallow in southern doom and gloom. Dunedin will continue to attract events and there remain plenty of other wonderful reasons to come and share our heritage, wildlife and culture.
