All Black legend Richie McCaw will be among those on Air New Zealand's first flight to Buenos Aires today.
All Black legend Richie McCaw will be among those on Air New Zealand's first flight to Buenos Aires today.
Air NZ’s Buenos Aires run tipped to heat up rivalry.
Air New Zealand's flights from Auckland to Buenos Aires begin today, boosting competition in the travel market between this country and South America.
The direct service, on a Boeing 777-200ER, also cuts the time to fly to Buenos Aires, with Chilean rival LAN Airlines making at least one stop on its way to the Argentine capital from this part of the world.
Air New Zealand's three-times-a-week flights - which will take under 12 hours on the way to Argentina and less than 14 hours on the return journey - is the first time the airline has operated a scheduled service to any part of South America in its 75-year history.
Among the passengers on this evening's inaugural flight is former All Black captain Richie McCaw, who recently re-signed as an Air New Zealand brand ambassador for a further two years.
McCaw, who retired from professional sport last month, will help promote NZ as a tourist destination while in Buenos Aires and spend time with emerging rugby talent.
Air NZ's Buenos Aires run tipped to heat up rivalry
As well as making travel to Buenos Aires quicker, the new Air NZ service is a big opportunity to court Argentine tourists, 4160 of whom visited New Zealand in the year to September. A little over 27,000 visited during the same period from other parts of the continent.
Tourism New Zealand in October said it had ramped up its activity in South America ahead of the Auckland to Buenos Aires flights starting.
The government organisation, which is responsible for marketing New Zealand to overseas tourists, said it was committing to investing early in Latin America at a higher level than present visitor numbers would justify.
"Investing ahead of the curve will also accelerate the development of quality visitor arrivals from these markets," a spokeswoman said yesterday.
Today's flight will be the first direct route from Auckland to Buenos Aires for more than two years after Argentina's state-owned Aerolineas cut its service.
As well as flying to Argentina, New Zealand's national carrier is also beginning a codeshare agreement with Aerolineas.
Air New Zealand passengers, under that deal, will be able to be booked on Aerolineas flights throughout South America.
The Buenos Aires service, which Air New Zealand is committing hundreds of millions of dollars to, is among a number of new routes being launched by the airline.
Flights five times a week to Houston in the United States start this month and the airline will fly to Vietnam three times a week from next winter.
Let's tango
• Air NZ today launches flights from Auckland to Buenos Aires. • Flight time 12 hours on the way to Argentina and less than 14 hours return. • First time airline has operated scheduled service to South America. • First direct route by any airline from Auckland to Buenos Aires for more than two years.
