Air Tahiti opens US door wider

Air Tahiti Nui's new long-haul Airbus A340-300 allows it to bypass Los Angeles on the way to New York.

Tourism officials are hoping a new, direct air link between Auckland and New York will help increase the flow of American visitors to New Zealand - this time via tropical Tahiti.

Air Tahiti Nui, the airline of French Polynesia, is about to start using its new long-range Airbus A340-300 aircraft to fly between Auckland and New York, landing only for a short refuelling stop at Papeete.

Travellers previously had to endure a day-long stopover in Tahiti before flying on to the United States. Now touted as the fastest way to travel between New Zealand and New York, this Air Tahiti Nui flight will take 18 hours and 40 minutes.

New Zealand tourism promoters are getting in on the act, joining forces with Air Tahiti Nui to get New Yorkers, already seduced by Air Tahiti Nui's advertising of beaches and swaying palm trees, to include a New Zealand stop on their holiday.

Airline founder and chief executive Nelson Levy, in Auckland recently to promote the new service, said tourists visiting Tahiti also wanted to make another stop, with New Zealand and Australia popular. He said the shared Polynesian culture between Tahiti and New Zealand was one marketing angle that was used to attract visitors to both countries.

Levy expects the flights, which begin on March 26, to be popular with New Zealanders, who will no longer have to change aircraft and airlines in California.

Tourism New Zealand chief executive George Hickton said the Air Tahiti Nui flights were a welcome addition to services connecting the country with the US east coast, the second biggest catchment of American visitors to New Zealand, after California.

He said 20 per cent of US visitors also incorporated a Pacific Island holiday into their trip.

Tourism New Zealand had been speaking to Air Tahiti Nui executives about different promotions combining New Zealand and Tahiti. This was likely to include bringing US-based writers to New Zealand on the flights.

While Australia had its own competing tropical holiday destinations, Hickton said New Zealand was not a rival to the Pacific Islands, so joint promotions could boost different aspects of the two nations.

Meanwhile, congestion at Los Angeles is one of the reasons Air New Zealand is finding its flights to San Francisco increasingly popular. In June, it will move to a daily service between the two cities.

Air NZ began flying to San Francisco in June 2004, in part to provide a "second gateway".

The arrival of new planes, particularly the Boeing 777-200ER jets, means the airline can start looking at flying to more distant cities, such as Beijing. Its review of long-haul flights has meant some casualties though, with flights to Taipei being taken off the schedule next month. Air NZ said this route was one of the least profitable across its whole network.

Declining Japanese tourism has also prompted Air NZ to cut its flights to Nagoya in Japan from next month. It will continue flying to Tokyo and Osaka.

Last week, it said lower-than-expected demand had led it to suspend flights between Christchurch and Los Angeles from April 3.

The service will begin again between the cities in October, with three flights a week.

* Air Tahiti will fly from Auckland three times a week, leaving on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, returning on Monday and Wednesday.


With additional reporting from Bloomberg.