Air New Zealand will start a weekly Airbus A320 daytime service to Tonga in October, according a marketing manager, Norm Thompson, in Nuku'alofa on June 29.

The new Airbus A320 service would replace the Monday night Boeing 737 service, said Norm, who is the Air New Zealand Group General Manager Marketing, Network and Sales, adding that the new service was the result of "ongoing dialogue with the government and tourism industry representatives."

To celebrate the new A320 service in October, Air New Zealand plans to offer a special introductory fare from Tonga to New Zealand and Australia. He said that there would also be "low price fares" on the Auckland-Tonga route in an attempt to encourage more people to travel more often.

"Air New Zealand has operated jet services to Tonga for over 20 years and it remains an integral part of the company's strategy."

He said that if the Tonga government were to approve Sunday flying, it was likely that Air New Zealand would respond by introducing an Airbus A320 Sunday daylight service with business class capacity.

The A320 is a short to medium range commercial aircraft that can carry about 150 passengers, and containerized cargo.

2005 was a big year for Air New Zealand, "because we are spending NZD$168 million dollars on upgrading our 747 aircrafts as well as a further $2 billion dollars in bringing into the fleet 8 new 777 aircraft".

Accompanying Norm Thompson on the visit were Peter Walsh, the Air New Zealand Manager Pacific Islands, and Rick Osbourne, Manager-government and Public Relations. While they were in Tonga they also signed a joint venture marketing agreement with the Tongan Visitors Bureau, where the airline will contribute a total of NZ$125,000 of cash and tickets towards the promotion of Tonga as a tourist destination.

The fund will be jointly managed by Air New Zealand and the Tonga Visitors Bureau and would be used for advertising, and promotions, carrying Tongan Visitors Bureau employees to trade shows, and to bring international media representatives to Tonga.

While in Tonga the delegation also signed an agreement between Air New Zealand and Palu Aviation Services Ltd. for Palu Aviation to provide aircraft certification services.