By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk
New Caledonia’s tourism industry is hopeful for a rebound as Air New Zealand resumed its flights over the weekend.
To mark Air New Zealand’s return, on its social networks, Nouméa-La Tontouta international airport posted a vibrant “Welcome Back to New Caledonia Air New Zealand, we are happy to welcome you back on our tarmac”.
The much-awaited resumption comes almost 18 months after the scheduled flights were interrupted following grave civil unrest that broke out mid-May 2024.
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Air New Zealand ceased flights between Auckland and Nouméa, the French territory’s capital, on 15 June 2024, at the height of violent civil unrest.
It said at the time that regarding New Caledonia, the New Zealand government still recommended to “exercise increased caution” (Level 2 of 4) due to the “ongoing risk of civil unrest”.
The riots resulted in 14 deaths, more than 2.2 billion euros (NZ$4 billion) in damage, thousands of businesses and jobs destroyed and a sharp drop in the French Pacific territory’s GDP (-13.5 percent), bringing its economy to its knees.
Tourism from its main regional source markets, namely Australia and New Zealand, also came to a standstill.
Numbers collapsed
On New Zealand arrivals, between the first quarters of 2024 and 2025, visitor numbers collapsed by 90 percent (from 1731 to 186).
Latest statistics published by local institute ISEE confirmed the sharp drop, for the first quarter of 2025 — only 9670 arrivals, a record drop of 62 percent compared to the previous year.
This is the worst volume observed for the past 30 years (not including the covid pandemic period).
New Caledonia’s tourism stakeholders have welcomed the resumption of the service to and from New Zealand, saying this will allow the industry to launch fresh, targeted promotional campaigns on the New Zealand market.
New Caledonia’s international carrier Air Calédonie International (Air Calin) is also operating two weekly flights to Auckland from the Nouméa-La Tontouta international airport, in code-sharing mode.
Local authorities were also placing high hopes in the other key source market of the region — Australia. New Caledonia’s stakeholders are planning to launch significant promotional campaigns.
“Air New Zealand is resuming its Auckland-Nouméa service starting 1 November 2025. Initially, flights will operate once a week on a Saturday. This follows the New Zealand government’s decision to update its safe travel advisory level for New Caledonia.
“The resumption of services reflects our commitment to reconnecting New Zealand and New Caledonia, ensuring that travel is safe and reliable for our customers. We will continue to monitor this route closely.
“Passengers are encouraged to check the latest safe travel advisory and Air New Zealand’s official channels for updates on flight schedules,” the company stated.
“Political tensions and civil unrest may increase at short notice. Avoid all demonstrations, protests, and rallies as they have the potential to turn violent with little warning.”
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
