Air New Zealand, which resumed direct flights between Auckland and Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport last November, announced Friday that it will add more flights to the route from Oct. 27.

Currently flying three round-trip flights on the route per week, the airline said it will add one more between Oct. 27 and Dec. 7, and two more between Dec. 8 and Feb. 23 next year.

This brings the total number to between four and five per week during the respective periods, to meet an anticipated tourism surge during peak season for the southern hemisphere country, the carrier said.

Air New Zealand expressed confidence in the move as the country's statistics show that mutual visits between Taiwan and New Zealand grew by 40 percent year-on-year within three months of the launch of the route.

According to Taiwan's Tourism Bureau, the number of Taiwanese nationals visiting New Zealand hit some 8,000 during that period, compared with about 5,000 a year before.

The bureau did not keep track of how many New Zealanders visited Taiwan in the same period.

The carrier said it is optimistic about the growing travel potential in the Asian market and has announced that it will resume Seoul-Auckland flights, as well as adding routes and increasing flight numbers between Singapore and New Zealand by the end of 2019. (By Lee Hsin-Yin)