Cheapest NZ Domestic Flights in September: 110 Routes from $80 One-Way

We scanned every day of September 2026 on all 110 city pairs between eleven New Zealand airports - Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga, Napier, New Plymouth, Wellington, Nelson, Christchurch, Dunedin, Queenstown and Invercargill - and pulled the cheapest one-way fare on each. All prices are NZD.

About the Airlines

New Zealand domestic flying is a two-airline market on the main trunk and effectively a one-airline market everywhere else, so which carrier you end up on depends mostly on which pair of cities you pick.

Air New Zealand is the local flag carrier and a Star Alliance member, working closely with Singapore Airlines and holding partnerships across Australia, North America and Asia. Its network covers New Zealand domestic, Australia, the Pacific Islands, North America and key Asian destinations, and it is the carrier behind most of the regional routes in this list - the smaller airports at Napier, New Plymouth, Nelson, Tauranga, Hamilton and Invercargill are served by its turboprop fleet rather than jets. More on our Air New Zealand airline guide.

Jetstar is the Qantas Group’s low-cost arm and a mainstay of Australian and New Zealand sale fares, flying domestic routes in both countries plus the Trans-Tasman, the Pacific and selected Asian destinations. In New Zealand it sticks to the busiest jet routes, which is where the cheapest fares in this list are clustered. It isn’t in a global alliance, but Qantas Frequent Flyer earning is available on eligible fares and add-ons, and being low-cost you should expect bags, seat selection and food to be extras rather than inclusions - see our Jetstar airline guide.

Connection Information

Only a minority of the 110 pairs below are flown nonstop. Anything crossing between a North Island regional airport and a South Island regional airport - Napier to Invercargill, New Plymouth to Dunedin, Tauranga to Nelson and so on - will route you through a hub, most commonly Auckland (AKL), Wellington (WLG) or Christchurch (CHC). Check the actual transit airport on your own itinerary against the published minimum connection time before you book - it matters most on the tighter layovers, and it matters more again if the legs sit on separate tickets, in which case a missed onward flight is your problem rather than the airline’s.

It is also worth sanity-checking a few of these against a road map. Auckland to Hamilton is a 90-minute drive and the cheapest September fare is $190 one-way. Queenstown to Invercargill is under three hours by car and tops the table at $266. Where the flight is priced as a connection through a hub, driving or a bus will often be both cheaper and faster.

About the Destinations

Auckland is the largest city and the main international gateway, built across a narrow isthmus between two harbours and dotted with 50-odd volcanic cones - Maungawhau/Mount Eden and Rangitoto Island are the two most people climb. The Waitemata waterfront, the Sky Tower and the black-sand west coast beaches at Piha and Muriwai are the usual first stops, with Waiheke Island’s vineyards a 40-minute ferry away.

Hamilton sits on the Waikato River in the middle of the North Island’s dairy country. Hamilton Gardens - a series of themed enclosures rather than a conventional botanic garden - is the main draw, and the Hobbiton Movie Set at Matamata is about an hour’s drive east.

Tauranga is the Bay of Plenty’s main city and the gateway to Mount Maunganui, where the walking track up Mauao gives you the harbour on one side and a long surf beach on the other. It is one of the sunniest parts of the country and the base for boat trips out into the Bay of Plenty.

Napier was rebuilt after the 1931 Hawke’s Bay earthquake and is now one of the world’s most concentrated collections of Art Deco architecture, best seen on a walk through the central city. It is also the hub of the Hawke’s Bay wine region, with cellar doors across the Gimblett Gravels and Te Mata Peak looking over the lot.

New Plymouth sits under the near-perfect volcanic cone of Taranaki Maunga, a national park with day walks and a summit climb straight out of town. The Coastal Walkway and the Len Lye Centre run along the seafront, and the surf breaks of Surf Highway 45 wrap around the peninsula.

Wellington is the capital, packed onto a harbour at the bottom of the North Island. Te Papa Tongarewa is the national museum and free to enter, the Wellington Cable Car climbs to the Botanic Garden, and Zealandia is a fenced urban ecosanctuary where kaka and tuatara live wild inside the city limits. It also has the country’s densest run of cafes, craft breweries and small bars.

Nelson is one of the sunniest cities in New Zealand and the jumping-off point for Abel Tasman National Park, with its golden beaches and coastal track, plus Kahurangi and Nelson Lakes further inland. The city itself has a long-running arts and craft-beer scene.

Christchurch is the South Island’s largest city, still visibly rebuilding after the 2010-11 earthquakes and much the better for it - the Cardboard Cathedral, the riverside Botanic Gardens and a substantial street-art trail are all within walking distance of the centre. It is also the natural base for Akaroa, the Banks Peninsula and the drive inland to Aoraki/Mount Cook.

Dunedin is the country’s Scottish city, built around the Octagon and home to Larnach Castle, the Otago Peninsula’s albatross and yellow-eyed penguin colonies, and Baldwin Street, long claimed as the world’s steepest residential street.

Queenstown is the adventure capital, wedged between Lake Wakatipu and The Remarkables, with bungy jumping, jet boating and the Skyline gondola in town, plus Milford Sound, Glenorchy and the Gibbston Valley wineries within easy reach. September is the tail of the ski season at Coronet Peak and The Remarkables, which is worth factoring into both the fares and the crowds.

Invercargill is the southernmost city, best known as the home of Burt Munro and the E Hayes motorcycle collection, and as the road access point for Bluff, the Catlins and the ferry to Stewart Island/Rakiura.

More on all of them at Tourism New Zealand.

The Fares

The cheapest fare anywhere in September is $80 one-way between Auckland and Christchurch, and it goes both ways - Auckland to Christchurch on 8 September and Christchurch to Auckland on 12 September are both $80. Six routes in total come in under $100, thirty under $125 and thirty-nine under $150.

The main trunk is where the value is, which is no surprise given it is the only part of the network with two airlines on it. After the two $80 Auckland-Christchurch fares, Hamilton to Christchurch at $96 on 2 September, Auckland to Wellington at $97 on 2 September, and Wellington to Auckland and Christchurch, both $97 on 10 September, round out the sub-$100 set.

Wellington is the best-value city to fly out of. Nine of its ten routes are under $135, including Queenstown at $108 and Nelson at $112 - it is the only origin in the list without an expensive middle tier. Christchurch is close behind, with seven routes under $132. At the other end, Invercargill is the priciest place to start: only Christchurch at $128 and Auckland at $152 are anything like reasonable, and every other route out of the deep south sits at $200 or more.

The second week of September is the sweet spot. Forty-seven of the 110 cheapest fares land between 8 and 14 September, and the averaged fare across all routes bottoms out around $204 to $213 on 12, 22, 23, 29 and 30 September against $267 to $298 through the first week. If your dates are flexible, skip 1 to 7 September and aim for the middle of the month or the last few days of it.

A few one-way gaps are worth exploiting. Christchurch to Hamilton is $103 while Auckland to Hamilton is $190, so if Hamilton is the destination and you are coming from the south, book it direct rather than backtracking through Auckland. Napier to Invercargill at $189 is cheaper than Napier to its Hawke’s Bay neighbour Tauranga at $218. And Dunedin to Christchurch and Christchurch to Dunedin are both $108, one of the few genuinely symmetric pairs in the set.

These are one-way fares priced independently, so a return trip is not necessarily two of these added together. On a handful of routes the scan found a small number of dates unavailable, so a missing day means no fare was returned rather than a flight being sold out.

From Auckland

To	Cheapest Date	One-Way Fare
Christchurch	8 Sep	$80
Wellington	2 Sep	$97
Queenstown	1 Sep	$107
Napier	28 Sep	$108
Tauranga	1 Sep	$112
New Plymouth	30 Sep	$118
Dunedin	21 Sep	$118
Nelson	19 Sep	$159
Hamilton	8 Sep	$190
Invercargill	24 Sep	$196

From Hamilton

To	Cheapest Date	One-Way Fare
Christchurch	2 Sep	$96
Wellington	14 Sep	$119
Auckland	16 Sep	$177
Dunedin	21 Sep	$206
Napier	9 Sep	$209
Nelson	21 Sep	$211
Queenstown	8 Sep	$211
Invercargill	22 Sep	$224
Tauranga	8 Sep	$232
New Plymouth	20 Sep	$237

From Tauranga

To	Cheapest Date	One-Way Fare
Auckland	11 Sep	$108
Wellington	15 Sep	$119
Christchurch	14 Sep	$131
Queenstown	12 Sep	$171
Napier	12 Sep	$200
New Plymouth	12 Sep	$203
Nelson	12 Sep	$209
Dunedin	19 Sep	$222
Hamilton	12 Sep	$230
Invercargill	1 Sep	$246

From Napier

To	Cheapest Date	One-Way Fare
Wellington	19 Sep	$121
Auckland	28 Sep	$136
Dunedin	14 Sep	$178
Invercargill	29 Sep	$189
Nelson	10 Sep	$190
New Plymouth	30 Sep	$201
Hamilton	30 Sep	$206
Christchurch	12 Sep	$208
Queenstown	22 Sep	$213
Tauranga	3 Sep	$218

From New Plymouth

To	Cheapest Date	One-Way Fare
Wellington	29 Sep	$127
Auckland	29 Sep	$155
Nelson	29 Sep	$176
Napier	19 Sep	$204
Tauranga	23 Sep	$206
Christchurch	12 Sep	$212
Queenstown	12 Sep	$215
Hamilton	29 Sep	$228
Dunedin	15 Sep	$229
Invercargill	6 Sep	$257

From Wellington

To	Cheapest Date	One-Way Fare
Auckland	10 Sep	$97
Christchurch	10 Sep	$97
Queenstown	23 Sep	$108
Nelson	15 Sep	$112
Hamilton	12 Sep	$119
Tauranga	10 Sep	$124
Napier	25 Sep	$125
New Plymouth	13 Sep	$128
Dunedin	23 Sep	$132
Invercargill	17 Sep	$224

From Nelson

To	Cheapest Date	One-Way Fare
Wellington	9 Sep	$111
Christchurch	29 Sep	$116
Napier	13 Sep	$160
New Plymouth	13 Sep	$176
Queenstown	13 Sep	$176
Auckland	14 Sep	$180
Dunedin	29 Sep	$201
Hamilton	12 Sep	$210
Tauranga	10 Sep	$210
Invercargill	19 Sep	$230

From Christchurch

To	Cheapest Date	One-Way Fare
Auckland	12 Sep	$80
Wellington	10 Sep	$102
Hamilton	22 Sep	$103
Dunedin	26 Sep	$108
Queenstown	13 Sep	$110
Invercargill	18 Sep	$125
Tauranga	12 Sep	$131
Nelson	27 Sep	$153
New Plymouth	27 Sep	$163
Napier	19 Sep	$169

From Dunedin

To	Cheapest Date	One-Way Fare
Auckland	10 Sep	$108
Christchurch	26 Sep	$108
Wellington	8 Sep	$164
Hamilton	10 Sep	$171
Napier	23 Sep	$178
Nelson	30 Sep	$199
Queenstown	12 Sep	$218
Tauranga	19 Sep	$225
New Plymouth	16 Sep	$229
Invercargill	30 Sep	$232

From Queenstown

To	Cheapest Date	One-Way Fare
Auckland	17 Sep	$108
Wellington	23 Sep	$108
Christchurch	23 Sep	$124
Nelson	10 Sep	$186
Tauranga	11 Sep	$202
Hamilton	18 Sep	$209
Napier	28 Sep	$218
Dunedin	19 Sep	$218
New Plymouth	24 Sep	$232
Invercargill	23 Sep	$266

From Invercargill

To	Cheapest Date	One-Way Fare
Christchurch	14 Sep	$128
Auckland	8 Sep	$152
Napier	11 Sep	$200
Nelson	22 Sep	$216
Hamilton	8 Sep	$217
Wellington	29 Sep	$224
Tauranga	8 Sep	$228
Queenstown	12 Sep	$251
Dunedin	28 Sep	$253
New Plymouth	13 Sep	$257

Summary

The best value in September is on the main trunk, and the standout is Auckland to Christchurch from $80 one-way on 8 September, matched by Christchurch to Auckland at $80 on 12 September. Wellington is the most consistently cheap city to leave from, the second week of the month is where most of the lowest fares land, and the regional cross-country pairs through Invercargill and New Plymouth are the ones where a rental car deserves a look before you book a flight.

Fares were available at the time of posting and can change or sell out without notice.