Air New Zealand Delays Newark Launch, Cancels Two Routes

Air New Zealand is postponing its long-awaited non-stop flights between Auckland and New York from October this year to “late 2021 at the earliest.”

The 3x weekly nonstop flights were slated to launch October 2020, and would have been Air New Zealand’s longest flight yet.

Customers affected will automatically be re-accommodated onto Los Angeles-Auckland services.

Air New Zealand’s Los Angeles–London and 5x weekly Buenos Aires-Auckland services will also not resume “due to the deep impact of COVID-19 on forward travel demand.” 

“Government travel restrictions will continue for some time and demand for our Los Angeles-London service is unlikely to recover before our planned exit in October. Argentina has been challenging before the pandemic and we don’t expect this market to recover quickly,” Air New Zealand’s Chief Networks, Strategy, and Alliances Officer Nick, Judd explained. 

The cancellations for the Los Angeles–London and Buenos Aires to Aukland routes, and the re-booking for the Newark to Aukland route, will be progressively rolled out into the GDS from next week.

Air New Zealand’s current international operations are limited to essential travel and cargo routes, with just a handful of flights scheduled each day until June 30.