Air New Zealand Relaunches Direct Boeing 787 Flights To San Francisco
Air New Zealand has resumed flights between Auckland and San Francisco and announced firm restart dates to Honolulu and Houston. With the airline already flying back to Los Angeles and launching its long-awaited nonstop services to New York and Chicago later this year, New Zealand’s national carrier will be operating to six US cities by the end of October.
Air New Zealand’s SFO flights resume
On Thursday, Air New Zealand pushed back its first regular passenger service to San Francisco in a long time. NZ8 is now departing Auckland (AKL) at 19:50 local time every Thursday, Saturday, and Tuesday for the 12-hour flight across the Pacific to San Francisco (SFO), landing there at 12:50 local time on the same day.
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After half a day on the ground in SFO, the same plane turns around to operate NZ7 back to Auckland, departing San Francisco at 22:05 every Thursday, Saturday, and Tuesday for the run down to AKL, touching down in New Zealand’s biggest city at 06:10 two days later. All of Air New Zealand’s US services are serviced by its three-class Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners.
Air New Zealand’s Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners operate all the airline’s US flights. Photo: Getty Images
Air New Zealand reboots its US network as New Zealand reopens
After beginning to let fully vaccinated Kiwis return home earlier this year and raising the border gates to fully vaccinated Australians this week, New Zealand will reopen to fully vaccinated travelers from its long list of visa waiver countries (including the US) on May 1, and barring any further hiccups, will reopen to travelers from anywhere in October – subject to New Zealand’s normal entry requirements. Also from May 1, Air New Zealand will end its current no jab, no-fly vaccination policy for international passengers.
“Recommencing services across our North America routes as the border reopens is another step towards the gradual resumption of flights to destinations across our international network,” says Leanne Geraghty, Chief Customer and Sales Officer at Air New Zealand.
In more aviation news, Houston (IAH) will see Air New Zealand flights resume on Thursday, July 7. NZ28 will leave Auckland at 21:55 local time every Monday, Thursday, and Saturday and make the 13-and-a-half- hour flight across to the Texan city, landing in Houston at 4:20 p.m. local time on the same day. Later that day, Air New Zealand’s Dreamliner will depart Houston at 21:55 to make the 15-hour trek back to AKL, landing there at 05:55 two days later – just in time for breakfast.
Air New Zealand’s US network at the end of 2022. Image: gcmap.com
The best US network of any Southwest Pacific airline
On Tuesday, July 12, Air New Zealand’s Boeing 787-9s will also restart services to Honolulu (HNL). NZ10 will leave Auckland at 21:55 every Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday to fly the leisurely eight-and-a-half-hour hop up to Honolulu, landing there at 08:30 local time on the same day. After a fairly nearly 90-minute turnaround, NZ9 will leave HNL every Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday at 10:00 and hustle back to Auckland, landing at 17:00 the following day.
Air New Zealand’s thrice-weekly Dreamliner flights to New York JFK start on September 17 and provide the only nonstop flights between any Southwest Pacific city and the biggest city in the US. The same can be said for Air New Zealand’s flights between Auckland and Chicago (ORD), slated to start on October 30. Alongside the existing flights between Auckland and Los Angeles, that’s a tidy six cities in the US Air New Zealand will fly to by the years’ end – easily the best US network of any airline from the Southwest Pacific.
