Air New Zealand is responding to high demand for people to get to Christchurch by putting a bigger plane on the route

The airline says it'll operate two return services between Auckland and Christchurch using planes with almost twice the capacity of the usual.

A wide-bodied Boeing 777-200 can seat 312 passengers, as opposed to the scheduled Airbus A320 aircraft which can seat 171.

The airline will also operate an additional one-way service between Auckland and Christchurch using an A320.