Air New Zealand is taking its relationship with Virgin Blue up a notch, saying it has become a substantial shareholder in the Australian-based airline.

We need to think more about partially privatising state owned assets, argue Susan Watson and Chye-Ching Huang, from the University of Auckland's Business School.

China's biggest airline says it will now start flying direct from Guangzhou to Auckland, boosting the annual injection to the region's economy from $50m to $75m.

United Continental's airline network map looks like an atlas attacked by a crayon-wielding 2-year-old.

Air NZ says the innovations on its new 777-300 aircraft are only the start of things to come.

Auckland Airport handled 3.8 per cent more passengers in November than a year ago, and airports it has invested in experienced even stronger growth.

The first of Air New Zealand's new fleet of 777-300ER aircraft took off from Boeing's Seattle headquarters yesterday, and began what the airline is calling an economy-class revolution.

The handover of Air NZ's first 777-300 aircraft is the biggest development in commercial air travel in 30 years, the airline says.

Air NZ and Virgin Blue have won approval from Transport Minister Steven Joyce to cooperate on routes across the Tasman.