Air New Zealand is relaunching its Auckland-New York direct service, which was canned before it even started in 2020 due to the pandemic.
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Originally to begin in October 2020, it will now launch in September this year.
The three-times-a-week flight will take between 16 and 18 hours on a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner.
New Zealand is opening its borders to those coming from visa-waiver countries on May 2.
“The US has always been a key market for us, and this new route cements our commitment to developing growing tourism opportunities between the two countries,” chief executive Greg Foran said.
“In the six years leading up to Covid, the US visitor numbers to New Zealand doubled and looking at the average spend in New Zealand by US tourists, we estimate that this new route would contribute an additional $65M per year into the local economy.
“Traditionally, flight numbers 1 and 2 are used for an airline’s flagship route. And that’s what New York will be – our flagship route.”
