New Zealand company Invivo made its first flight at the end of January, taking guests on a charter trip between Auckland and Queenstown with its offshoot Invivo Air.

The trip on the world’s first winery airline included return flights, an overnight stay, wine tastings, a vineyard visit and winemaker dinner, and the 30 seats sold out in hours when it launched online.

The Invivo Air Saab 340 plane named ‘Cloud Wine’ departed from Auckland Airport, and began with a guided wine-tasting of the Invivo, Graham Norton and Invivo X, Sarah Jessica Parker ranges led by Invivo co-founders Tim Lightbourne and Rob Cameron.

Tim Lightbourne, Invivo Co-Founder says, “We were thrilled to welcome our guests on board Invivo Air and deliver such a special experience. As a Kiwi company, we loved showcasing some of our stunning wine regions, vistas, gastronomy and of course wine to our passengers. We’ve had such positive feedback from our guests, we’re planning our next experience – we’d love to run an international flight for our next trip!”

Invivo says it plans on releasing dates for its next flight later in 2023 and is also taking registrations and destination requests for future domestic and international flights at invivoair.com.  

Invivo says that it will also be offsetting carbon emissions on behalf of every guest on the trip.