Air New Zealand recently unveiled its plans to fly directly to New York

Thursday, March 24, 2022

As New Zealand is set to rebuild its tourism industry that has been decimated by the pandemic, Air New Zealand has recently unveiled its plans to fly directly to New York. It’s one of the longest routes in the world; the carrier confirmed on Wednesday that it will start direct flights from Auckland to John F. Kennedy Airport in September. At just over 16 hours northbound and 17 hours 35 minutes southbound, the trip would be the longest in service. The lengthiest currently clocks it at around 18 hours 40 minutes between Singapore and New York.

From May 2nd, as the border will re-open to majority of nations, for the tourism industry, the government is billing the ultra long-haul flight as a shot in the arm, which was once the biggest export earner for New Zealand. The U.S. was the third largest source of foreign visitors before the border got closed two years back with 370,000 Americans spending over NZ$1.5 billion while on vacation in the South Pacific nation in 2019.

“Americans consider this country an appealing destination and those who have visited in the past rate their experience incredibly highly,” said Tourism Minister Stuart Nash. “The direct route to Auckland removes difficult barriers like time-consuming stopovers for travelers from the East Coast of the U.S.”

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