Air New Zealand will begin flying to Newark next October.
Thrice-weekly Auckland-Newark service will be the
carrier's sixth U.S. route, joining flights from Auckland to San Francisco, Los
Angeles, Houston, Chicago and Honolulu. The route will also be Air New Zealand's longest
and the fifth-longest in the world, with a northbound flight
time of 15 hours and 40 minutes and southbound flight time of 17 hours and 40
minutes, Air New Zealand said.
Air New Zealand will fly a 275-seat Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner
configured with a higher proportion of business and premium economy seats than
the carrier typically offers.
As it revealed the new U.S. route, Air New Zealand also
announced that it would discontinue its service from Los Angeles onto London
next October. The carrier has flown Los Angeles-London since 1982.
"Visitor growth to New Zealand is strongest from North
America and performance of our new service to Chicago is exceeding
expectations," acting CEO Jeff McDowall said in a statement. "New York
has been an aspiration for Air New Zealand for some time, and withdrawal from
the Atlantic will free up aircraft capacity to make this milestone a reality."
Air New Zealand began flying to Chicago last November. The
carrier partners with fellow Star Alliance member United.
Correction: Auckland-Newark is Air New Zealand's sixth U.S. route; an earlier version of this article omitted Auckland-Honolulu as one of the carrier's routes.