New Zealand airport operators today expressed disappointment at Pacific Blue's decision to stop flying domestic routes in this country.

Auckland International Airport said the company provided it with $2 million a year in aeronautical revenue. But this was just 1.3% of the revenue and Pacific Blue's capacity may by picked up by other airlines.

Wellington Airport also said it was disappointed.

"We will be working closely with Pacific Blue to ensure minimal disruption to passengers," said Steve Fitzgerald, Wellington Airport's chief executive.

Air New Zealand has been called in to carry passengers disrupted by Pacific Blue’s withdrawal of domestic services.

“Pacific Blue contacted us this morning to see if we could carry their disrupted passengers,” Air New Zealand group general manager Australasia Bruce Parton, adding that passengers will be rebooked onto Air New Zealand services as close to their Pacific Blue booked departure time as possible.

As a sweetener, Air New Zealand will also be offering the transferred passengers free membership to the airline's airpots programme.

Pacific Blue and Cathay Pacific have signed a deal allowing passengers to fly long-haul from Hamilton International Airport.

Passengers will be able to travel four times a week on Pacific Blue to Sydney or Brisbane and from there, on connecting Cathay Pacific services to Hong Kong and beyond.

Cathay Pacific marketing services manager New Zealand Ian Herald said the service would be more convenient for Waikato and Bay of Plenty passengers than travelling to Auckland and would remove the hassle of worry about delays due to traffic hold-ups.

Pacific Blue is offering the prospect of flights to many more destinations in Australia provided governments pick up the cost of border control and security services at airports which do not currently have those services available.

Services between Wellington and Canberra are a hot prospect for the carrier, which says it is evolving from a low cost leisure airline to competing with traditional carriers for the business market.

Virgin Group low-cost carrier Pacific Blue will begin direct transtasman flights from Queenstown, Wellington and Dunedin in September, chief executive Brett Godfrey said today.

The announcement came just a week after Mr Godfrey said the Christchurch-based airline would operate the Hamilton-Australia route left vacant by Air New Zealand, also from September.

Hamilton will be Pacific Blue Airlines’ first regional destination as it looks to move beyond its domestic trunk route services.

The carrier’s acting chief executive Peter Morgan will announce the move at Hamilton Airport tomorrow morning, three weeks after saying Pacific Blue was considering regional schedules in competition with Air New Zealand.

Hamilton will be linked to Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch while other regional destinations to come are likely to include Rotorua and Palmerston North.