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What you need to know

A scheduled international air service is a series of flights between New Zealand and another country or territory that has been determined by the licensing authority to be a scheduled international air service. In making a determination, the licensing authority may take into account the nature of the flights, the manner of operation (including regularity and frequency) and whether the flights are open to the public.  

Any airline operating scheduled international air services to and from New Zealand must hold a scheduled international air services licence.  

Licences must conform with the capacity, route and traffic rights provisions of relevant air services agreement or arrangement that New Zealand has negotiated with other countries. 

Airlines must operate in accordance with their licence conditions. This is monitored by the Ministry when the airlines, as a condition of their licence, file their schedules twice-yearly.

The licensing authority and the requirements vary depending on whether the airline is a foreign or New Zealand airline, and whether there are restrictions on the services and routes in which New Zealand airlines can operate. 

The licensing authority will either be the Minister of Transport (the Minister) or the Secretary of Transport.  Currently, the Associate Minister of Transport is the Acting Minister of Transport for the purposes of Civil Aviation, and all references to the Minister or Minister of Transport will be references to the Acting Minister of Transport.  

Read more about air service agreements: New Zealand’s Air Service Agreements(external link)

How we assess applications

Related documents and more information

See Part 6, Subpart 1 of the Civil Aviation Act 2023 for more detail: https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2023/0010/latest/whole.html#LMS447632(external link)

We publish decisions to grant and vary scheduled international air service licences in the New Zealand Gazette.  You can find these here: https://gazette.govt.nz/(external link)

Below you can find:

Contact us

If you would like to discuss any aspect of international airline licencing or ask for more information, please contact us here - airservices@transport.govt.nz.