Air New Zealand have formally announced their longest ever route - flying between Auckland (AKL) and New York City (JFK). Tickets are available to book immediately with flight departures starting 17 September 2022. New York flights for Air NZ were originally announced in 2019 with plans for flights to start late 2020.
Return Economy flights start at $1,979, Premium Economy at $4,889 and Business Premier $10,179. The flights will takeover flight number NZ1 and NZ2 that had up until recently been used on the Auckland - Los Angeles - London route. Air NZ CEO Greg Foran remarked “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."
Air NZ pilots will fly Boeing 787-9 aircraft on the AKL-JFK route departing in each direction every Monday, Thursday and Saturday.
Greg Foran says with international flying on hiatus for two years and the New Zealand border reopening on 2 May to visa-waiver countries, this is the moment Kiwis have been waiting for. "New York is an iconic yet familiar city, a bucket list item. And now for the first time, Kiwis can visit the city of all cities with a non-stop flight. New Zealand lets you slow down – in New York, everything is bigger and faster, it's exciting and awe inspiring – and it's now closer than ever."
"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. 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.
Flight NZ2 will depart Auckland each Monday, Thursday and Saturday at 7:40pm, arriving in New York City at 7.55pm (same date) - with a flight duration of 16 hours and 15 minutes.
Flights from New York City will depart at 9.55pm each Monday, Thursday and Saturday and arrive two calendar days later at 8.30am (except where impacted by daylight savings). The flight duration of 17 hours and 35 minutes makes it one of the longest scheduled flights in the world.
"We've worked incredibly hard over the last few years to make this ultra-long-haul service a reality – it's one of the longest routes in the world, at just over 16 hours northbound and 17 and a half hours southbound. To ensure customers arrive in New York feeling refreshed, we've put a lot of thought into the onboard experience and teams are working around the clock to make sure this a great flying experience."
