CONVENTIONS and Incentives New Zealand (CINZ) is welcoming news of a likely direct air service between the US and New Zealand announced yesterday by Qantas and American Airlines.
CINZ chief executive Sue Sullivan said good air connectivity is crucial to growth for New Zealand’s lucrative conference and incentive sector.
“North America is becoming an increasingly important source of high-quality business event buyers for New Zealand. CINZ is certainly seeing a lot of interest from the North American market, both for our unique conferencing opportunities, and also for New Zealand’s premium incentive offerings,” she said in a press release.
American Airlines will add a non-stop service between Auckland and Los Angeles in June 2016, pending regulatory approvals.
The new service is supported by Jetstar’s domestic connections to 11 New Zealand regional destinations and Qantas Group’s nearly 40 daily flights to Australia.
Next month Air New Zealand will start flying between Auckland and Houston up to five times per week, adding to its existing direct services from Los Angeles, San Francisco, Hawaii and Vancouver.
