but what you don't see is that Hamilton and Tauranga are about 1 to 1 and a half hours from Auckland by car.
Yes Hamilton is. Tauranga no its over 3 hours. If you look back to my post I mentioned the posability of Tauranga and Hamilton to Christchurch. Not those 2 cities to Auckland which are really too short for 320 flights.
Wellington linked to these 2 ciites could also work for them and to Dunedin.