JFK-AKL nonstop starts September, 2022

[+ azdr0710]

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/air-new-zealand-auckland-new-york-intl-hnk/index.html

[mike carey]

4 hours ago, azdr0710 said:

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/air-new-zealand-auckland-new-york-intl-hnk/index.html

It's a bit of a backhander to post a video about Qantas in an article about Air New Zealand, but given the specifics of the video it makes sense. (And interesting that they showed the 'Qantas 100' livery used to mark the airline's centenary.)

As Ben noted in an OMAAT article a couple of days ago, you know that things are opening up when airlines in the two antipodean hermit kingdoms are launching new ultra-long haul flights. It'll be a bit before any of the Qantas Project Sunrise routes go into service, but they have announced an additional DFW service, from Melbourne, from December. It will be four days a week on a B787. They will also be reinstating A380s on MEL-LAX about the same time.

This new ANZ flight will sell well here as they would be offering one stop connections from most big Australian cities (avoiding LAX and connecting flights on a US domestic carrier). It won't offer any worthwhile connectivity onto UA, but the ANZ non-stops to ORD and IAH will do that. It's less convenient for me because there are no direct flights from Canberra to Auckland, but if the fare's good I'd be there. I don't mind connections and longer flights if the price is right.

Qantas haven't said if or when they will begin the Brisbane-ORD flights they had scheduled before the pandemic, but they have switched their BNE-LAX to be operated by A330s. That frees up their B787 fleet for longer-haul flights.

[Alex93108]

Considering this flight . Prices are  eye watering. For worth, the JFK-AKL leg goes out with 100 seats empty due weight restrictions so I was told .  I assume business and premium economy goes out full, the bulk of the empty seats will be in Y.

 

[mike carey]

3 hours ago, jetlow said:

Considering this flight . Prices are  eye watering. For worth, the JFK-AKL leg goes out with 100 seats empty due weight restrictions so I was told .  I assume business and premium economy goes out full, the bulk of the empty seats will be in Y.

 

They certainly have weight restrictions and even with them some JFK-AKL flights have planned a refuelling stop in Nadi (even pre-positioning a relief crew) and rebooked passengers with onward connections onto later flights. As far as I know, so far they've been able to recalculate en route and miss the diversion. Fares between the US and the South Pacific are generally eye-watering at the moment.

Qantas has since announced SYD-JFK flights via AKL so ANZ will have competition on the route. This won't be QF's longest flight, that's Perth to LHR, and I haven't seen reports of that being weight restricted. QF and ANZ are/will be using B787-9 on these routes but they may have different configurations that explain weight/distance performance. Of course wind conditions in the Pacific and Indian Oceans also differ.