This past weekend, Air New Zealand conducted its first round-trip service between Auckland (AKL) and New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK). The aircraft from JFK to Auckland departed New York on Saturday evening and arrived in Auckland 16 hours and 36 minutes later on Monday morning (or Sunday afternoon New York time).
On Saturday morning, the first aircraft from Auckland to New York touched down.
Following Singapore Airlines' nonstop flights from Singapore to JFK (9,537 miles, 18 hours and 40 minutes) and Newark (9,534 miles, 18 hours and 30 minutes), as well as Qantas' Perth-London flight, Air New Zealand's new three times weekly service places the airline in fourth place for the world's fourth-longest flight (8,828 miles, according to Great Circle Mapper, blocked at 17 hours and 35 minutes) (9,010 miles, blocked at 17 hours and 15 minutes).
Air New Zealand has a coach cabin on its Auckland-JFK service, despite the Singapore flights using A350-900ULR aircraft only offering business class and premium economy.
The flight represents the comeback of ultra-long-haul route expansion, a trend among airlines throughout the world in the late 2010s that was put on hold while the pandemic halted international travel.
As the nation tries to aggressively increase its tourism base, it also marks a significant new flagship route for mainly state-owned Air New Zealand.
Notably, the airline decided to give the principal flight number to the leg that brought passengers to Auckland rather than the outgoing flight: JFK to Auckland has the flight number NZ1, while the northbound trip from Auckland to New York has the flight number NZ2.
New Zealand depends on the American market, and now that it is once again open to visitors, a nonstop from New York is anticipated to boost the country's appeal.
According to Tourism New Zealand, the U.S. accounted for 10% of all visitors and 13% of all visitor spending in New Zealand prior to the pandemic, ranking third after Australia and China.
According to airline CEO Greg Foran, the new route will contribute $65 million yearly to the New Zealand economy.
Airline executives and the prime minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern, were scheduled to travel on the first leg to New York, but Ardern canceled to go to the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II.
There was an air of importance before takeoff.
The city has been plastered with advertisements for the flight for weeks, it has received enormous press coverage in New Zealand, and the hours leading up to the launch were thrilling for both passengers and staff at the airport and the airline.
Air New Zealand's southbound flight was thrilling, but the airline kept things low-key for the JFK departure after celebrating the departure earlier in Auckland.
One could not help but think of Project Sunrise as the plane boarded and took off. This was an initiative by Australia's national airline Qantas to begin nonstop flights from Sydney to London and New York, which would be the first and second-longest commercial flights, respectively.
At the moment, the airline runs the itineraries with a stop.
In 2019, Qantas carried out a Project Sunrise proof-of-concept test flight, flying a recently delivered Boeing 787-9 from JFK to Sydney and then repeating the test from London.
Despite claims that the test flights were little more than publicity stunts in the absence of a firm launch date, the flights, which were terminated after roughly 19 hours, attracted considerable attention.
Since then, Qantas has acquired an Airbus A350-1000ULR for the flights, which the airline believes it will begin operating in 2025.
Although the new service falls short of Singapore Airlines' routes in terms of the title of "world's longest," Air New Zealand has managed to surpass Qantas in offering regularly scheduled nonstop service between the East Coast and the Oceania region, which includes Australia and New Zealand. This was accomplished with the launch of Auckland-New York.
But Qantas is vying for the East Coast of the United States.
The airline said that starting in June of next year, it will also begin operating flights as a fifth-freedom route from Auckland to New York, with a connection in Sydney.
However, Air New Zealand gets exclusive use of the nonstop route for the following nine months, giving it time to acclimate to the new market.
A Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner that has been specifically outfitted with a more luxurious cabin than the rest of its 787-9 aircraft flies Air New Zealand's AKL-JFK flights.
On the New York-bound Dreamliners, there are 13 Economy Skycouches, 215 normal economy seats, 33 premium economy recliners, and 27 lie-flat business class seats.
Passengers who purchase Skycouches can reserve a full row of three economy seats, which, when combined with leg rests that can be raised, creates the appearance of a couch.
The remaining Dreamliners operated by Air New Zealand have 16 Skycouch rows, 18 business-class rows, 21 premium economy rows, 263 economy rows, and 18 business-class seats.
The airline has just unveiled the Skynest economy sleeper pod and a new business-class offering, albeit neither of those have yet begun service.
Even in the first-class cabins, the flight from Auckland to New York felt like a slog, as is typical of all extremely long-haul flights.
However, because the route was well-timed for sleep, it was feasible to have a good night's sleep and yet complete tasks or watch movies, such as the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy, which was renown for being shot in New Zealand.
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