Economy is hardly rock star, anything but and yet we see from the most recent monthly operating stat's that RPK's are up strongly as are load factors.
Could it be that air fares are now so cheap in real terms that people think nothing of getting on a plane and whipping down to Chch for a day to see their friends ?
Lots of new immigrants are also adding fuel to the domestic engine and with tourism growing strongly and potentially even stronger now we're a bit cheaper from a lower currency all those tourists coming here are feeding into the domestic network.
I've flown a fair bit lately around the country and everywhere you go the planes are near to full capacity.