The sky is the limit - Air New Zealand to relaunch 14 international routes in 16 days

Air New Zealand is gearing up for the busiest July in two years with the relaunch of 14 international routes in 16 days. With these routes back in action, the airline will be operating 60 percent of its international capacity - the most international flying in the last two years.
23 June 2022

From 9 July, the airline will have three quarters of its international and domestic routes back up and running with popular destinations like Honolulu, Houston and Tahiti restarting after around 820 days of not operating. 

The Boeing 777-300 aircraft will also be back flying passengers, helping towards the addition of around 40,000 seats per week in July on the international network. 

Air New Zealand Chief Executive Officer Greg Foran says it takes a village to get the airline back up and running and is incredibly proud of the sheer amount of work the team at Air New Zealand has put in to get to this moment.

"To bring one Boeing 777-300 out of storage in Auckland takes around six to eight weeks to get it ready for the skies. We've hired or rehired more than 2,000 Air New Zealanders across the business including 150 pilots, more than 500 cabin crew, and 270 airport employees, with another 1100 vacancies to be filled. It's no easy feat but we're getting back to where we were so we can give our customers that Air New Zealand service they know and love.

"We're seeing first hand how keen people are to travel again, particularly across the Tasman. Come July, we will double our services across the Tasman and restart popular direct services like the Sunshine Coast, Hobart and Adelaide. By 9 July we will be back to all nine Australian ports which is an important milestone for us. 

"I'd like to thank our customers for their patience while we get back to where we were pre-Covid, as well as our teams who are working hard to gear back up. 

"Getting aircraft out of storage, people back in, opening ports, and working with new travel requirements, there's a lot to consider, and the Air New Zealand team are doing their very best to make it happen as quickly as possible." 

Air New Zealand's restart schedule is as follows:

Auckland

Honolulu

Commencing from

4 July

Frequency Jul-Oct

3 per week

Auckland

Tahiti

Commencing from

6 July

Frequency Jul-Oct

2 per week

Auckland

New Caledonia

Commencing from

6 July

Frequency Jul-Oct

2 per week

Auckland

Houston

Commencing from

7 July

Frequency Jul-Oct

3 per week

Auckland

Adelaide

Commencing from

6 July

Frequency Jul-Oct

3-4 per week

Auckland

Cairns

Commencing from

5 July

Frequency Jul-Oct

3 per week

Auckland

Hobart

Commencing from

7 July

Frequency Jul-Oct

2 per week

Auckland

Sunshine Coast

Commencing from

9 July

Frequency Jul-Oct

2 per week

Auckland

Christchurch

Auckland

Gold Coast

Commencing from

3 July

Frequency Jul-Oct

4-2 per week

Auckland

Nadi

Commencing from

5 July

Frequency Jul-Oct

3-2 per week

Auckland

Wellington

Auckland

Nadi

Commencing from

5 Jul

Frequency Jul-Oct

3-2 per week

Auckland

Queenstown

Auckland

Brisbane

Commencing from

24 June

Frequency Jul-Oct

4-3 per week

Auckland

Melbourne

Commencing from

24 June

Frequency Jul-Oct

7-6 per week

Auckland

Sydney

Commencing from

25 June

Frequency Jul-Oct

9-5 per week

Ends

Issued by Air New Zealand Communications.

Email: media@airnz.co.nz │ Twitter: @AirNZMedia

About Star Alliance

The Star Alliance network was established in 1997 as the first truly global airline alliance to offer worldwide reach, recognition and seamless service to the international traveller. Its acceptance by the market has been recognised by numerous awards, including the Air Transport World Market Leadership Award and Best Airline Alliance by both Business Traveller Magazine and Skytrax. The member airlines are: Aegean Airlines, Air Canada, Air China, Air India, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana Airlines, Austrian, Brussels Airlines, Copa Airlines, Croatia Airlines, EGYPTAIR, Ethiopian Airlines, EVA Air, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines, Shenzhen Airlines, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, SWISS, TAP Air Portugal, THAI, Turkish Airlines, and United. Overall, the Star Alliance network currently offers more than 19,000 daily flights to more than 1,250 airports in 195 countries. Further connecting flights are offered by Star Alliance Connecting Partner, Juneyao Airlines.

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