Air New Zealand One-Ups Qantas With Direct Flights To New York

Air New Zealand takes the lead with direct Auckland-New York flights, outpacing Qantas' future plans.

Immanuel Debeer23 Oct 2019

Air New Zealand One-Ups Qantas With Direct Flights To New York

A few days ago Australian media went into a frenzy, over galley squads (yes that’s a thing now!) and stretches onboard the Qantas Project Sunrise flight from Sydney to New York.

Air New Zealand One-Ups Qantas With Direct Flights To New York Qantas

Photo: Qantas.

Meanwhile, Air New Zealand realised their geographical advantage and just announced direct flights to EWR (Newark Liberty International Airport) starting next year!

Air New Zealand One-Ups Qantas With Direct Flights To New York Auckland

In doing so, they just one-upped Qantas who hope to fly direct within 4 years.

Bye Bye London

To operate this flight the airline is scrapping its Los Angeles to London service from October 2020 which makes sense considering this is a very competitive route and not many people enjoy connecting in LAX.

Flight Schedule

AirNewZealand will fly between Auckland and its alliance partner United Airlines’ New York hub Newark Liberty International Airport three times weekly, year-round, using its latest configuration Boeing 787-9 aircraft.

Tickets for AirNewZealand’s New York service will go on sale soon, subject to regulatory approvals and landing slot confirmation.

A New Business Class Cabin?

It would be nice to see Air New Zealand debut its long-overdue new business class seat on this route which is supposed to be released at the end of 2019 and rolled out across the entire fleet by the end of 2020.

Air New Zealand With Direct Flights To New York

I’m speculating the Auckland to New York flight might be the first one to feature an all-new cabin. Fingers crossed!

How Long is The Flight?

At a flight time of 15hr 40m northbound and 17hr 40m southbound, the 14,178-kilometre route will be AirNewZealand’s longest and the fifth-longest in the world by distance.

Deals For Australian Travellers

As it stands, Air New Zealand offers some really competitive airfares to the US and South America from Australia via Auckland. Premium tickets in business class are often much cheaper, and even with a connection in Auckland, travel times remain very similar compared to a direct flight.