Air New Zealand and United Airlines have agreed to form a joint venture between the air carriers. The agreement between the two Star Alliance partners will take effect this coming July, when United Airlines starts its service between San Francisco, California and Auckland, New Zealand. The terms call for coordinating sales and marketing between the two airlines, as well as tweaking of the airlines’ schedules for optimum through passenger connections.
Air New Zealand Route Network and Aircraft
Air New Zealand currently provides nonstop service from its base in Auckland, New Zealand to four US cities and Vancouver, Canada. The US cities served are Honolulu, Hawaii, Houston, Texas, as well as Los Angeles and San Francisco, California. New Zealand has been enjoying an increase in tourism the last few years, with over 3 million visitors in calendar 2015. The joint venture between Air New Zealand and United Airlines will offer up to 33 weekly flights between the mainland US and New Zealand during the upcoming December to January peak travel periods, providing customers more choice of flight times and better connections.
Air New Zealand will continue to operate its Boeing 777-300 ER and Boeing 777-200 ER aircraft between San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Houston to and from Auckland with Business Premier, Premium Economy, and Economy class service, including the airlines Economy Skycouch option. United Airlines will initially operate Boeing 787-8 aircraft on its routes, before upgrading the aircraft in November of 2016 to the larger capacity Boeing 787-9 aircraft model. Both United 787 versions will offer United Business First and United Economy, including the airlines Economy Plus seating option.
