Air New Zealand boss Christopher Luxon says a huge opportunity exists to increase visitor arrivals from the United States, but misconceptions about this country need to be overcome.
Speaking at the airline's annual meeting in Auckland yesterday, he said 30 million of 120 million US passport holders had New Zealand "on their bucket list" of places they wanted to visit.
Arrivals from the US increased about 11 per cent to 250,000 last year but many Americans had a false perception of travel times to New Zealand. "When we sit down with American customers some of them tell us they think it is 41 hours in an aeroplane flying here."
Air NZ launches new routes to Houston in Texas, and to Buenos Aires in Argentina, in December.
The airline - which announced a record full-year profit of $327 million in August - has delivered an upbeat outlook for the 2016 financial year. The firm said it was on target for an 85 per cent lift in pre-tax profit to $400 million in the first half.
