50% more seats to Hawaii

Air New Zealand is adding significant new capacity to its Auckland – Honolulu route to meet high customer demand for this popular holiday destination.

Between late October 2012 and March 2013 the airline will add a third weekly Boeing 767-300 service increasing the total number of seats available on this route by 50%.

In addition to this, between 9 June and 1 September 2012 Air New Zealand will upgrade its regular twice weekly service to a larger Boeing 777-200 aircraft, which is a 21% capacity increase on the same period last year.

Air New Zealand will also be offering its popular Seats to Suit fare structure on the Auckland – Honolulu route for travel from 24 July 2012, bringing it into line with other Tasman and Island destinations.

Group General Manager Bruce Parton says “Hawaii has long been a popular destination for Kiwis seeking a winning holiday combination of sun, sand and shopping.  The additional capacity and more flexible fare structure will make Hawaii an even more affordable and accessible leisure option.”

The increased capacity to Hawaii follows similar increases to North American routes.  Air New Zealand is moving to 14 return services per week between Auckland and Los Angeles from mid June 2012, including three flights on Saturdays and a double daily service most other days of the week.

It’s also deploying 379 seat Boeing 747-400 aircraft on the Auckland - San Francisco route five times per week, moving to daily during peak demand times.  The Auckland - Vancouver route will also move to five services per week between December 2012 and February 2013.  Previously this route has operated between two and four times a week depending on seasonal demand.