Air New Zealand confirms Chicago service will operate from November 30

Air New Zealand has confirmed the widely expected extension of its North American network to Chicago.

The nonstop Auckland-Chicago service will launch on November 30 and will be accompanied by partnership airline United extending its seasonal Auckland-San Francisco service to year-round.

Air New Zealand will operate the Chicago route three times weekly and year-round with its newly configurated Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft. 

This provides extra premium economy seating with flight times of about 15 hours northbound and just over 16 hours southbound. Previously it has taken American visitors at least 19-20 hours and a layover to get to New Zealand from Chicago.

Speculation of the new route was linked to Air New Zealand's recent sponsorship of a visit by former President Barack Obama, a Chicago resident, and was announced to a travel industry gathering this morning.

Chicago as well as San Francisco, Los Angeles and Houston – all Air New Zealand destinations – are also United hub airports, allowing travellers from New Zealand to fly on to dozens of other places in North America and elsewhere on codeshare tickets. 

Tourism boost
The new service has been described as a milestone by Tourism Industry Aotearoa and will bring New Zealand closer to the booming visitor markets of North America and Europe.

TIA chief executive Chris Roberts says Americans are coming to New Zealand and spending like they never have before.

"The US visitor market grew nearly 20% in 2017 and it’s now worth $1.3 billion to New Zealand a year. Much of this growth has been ignited by a massive expansion of our air links to the US in recent years, including the addition of Air New Zealand’s service to Houston, and the entry of United Airlines and American Airlines into the market. This link to Chicago can only set us up for continued success."

In their joint statement, the airlines say overall passenger volumes have increased since United started flying here and more than 30% of those travelling to the US connected to United’s domestic network. 

But the big boost for New Zealand tourism from Chicago will come from nonstop access to the tens of millions of Americans living in the midwest.

According to Tourism New Zealand, some 28 million Americans have indicated a desire to visit this country. The number of Americans who have done so in the past 12 months exceeds 330,000, an annual growth of 10%. Some 200,000 Kiwis visited the US in the same period.

Tourist numbers are linked directly to airline capacity, so that growth will continue with the extra flights over the peak holiday period as well as United's move to year-round operation.

United’s San Francisco-Auckland service will be operated by Boeing 777-300ER aircraft featuring its Polaris business class service between November and March while B 777-200ER will be used between April and October. 

Air New Zealand chief executive Christopher Luxon says the three-times-weekly Chicago service is the equivalent of 85,000 extra seats and will contribute around $70m annually to the economy. 

"We know that more than 50% of spending by US visitors to New Zealand is done outside of the main centres," he adds.