Direct flights from Christchurch to San Francisco are set to launch this summer.

United Airlines said a new Dreamliner 787 service will start on December 1, flying three times a week for four months.

Christchurch Airport chief executive Justin Watson said the new direct service will get South Islanders to the US on one flight while also responding to Americans’ interest in the South Island.

“The American travel market is buoyant. Americans are travelling widely again and we know they want to experience what the South Island offers.”

He said the new service will “supercharge” tourism value to New Zealand.

“Statistics show American visitors who enter the country through Christchurch Airport spend 42% more in New Zealand and stay 33% longer.

“Based on government data, the seasonal service is forecast to bring in $44 million in visitor spend for New Zealand, with $32 million of that in South Island regions. This is the ideal combination of national value impact and regional economic impact,” he said.

Watson said the service will connect Christchurch, America, and Antarctica.

“We are the world’s southernmost gateway to Antarctica, with the United States Antarctic Programme based here. That brings more than 3000 staff, researchers and supplies from the US every year to Christchurch, and on to Antarctica in our summer.”

United Airlines is also adding four weekly flights between Auckland and Los Angeles, starting from October 28.

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File Photo: Data from FlightAware showed more than 5,400 flights within, to or from the United States were delayed and more than 1,600 were canceled as of Tuesday afternoon.

By Chris Isidore and Jordan Valinsy | CNN

Claude Ronnie Msowoya and his family spent three days trying to get to Johannesburg, South Africa, but had to return home by train with no luggage.

Msowoya told CNN that his United Airlines flight from Boston to Newark Airport was delayed on Sunday, causing him and his family to miss their connecting United Airlines flight from Newark to Johannesburg.

Msowoya said his family ended up being booked on another United Airlines flight due to depart Monday night, which was also cancelled.

“We had to go to customer service, which took us 10 hours the day before. We didn’t get any help and later tried to get our luggage to cancel the trip. “We stood in line at baggage claim for six hours just to be told that they would not give anyone their bags and that they should file a claim and pray and hope that their bags would be delivered to them,” Msowoya said.

Msowoya told CNN that his family decided to take the train back to Boston after spending three days at Newark Airport.

His story was hardly unique. The restrictions on air travelers continued on Tuesday for the fourth day. More than 7,000 flights in the United States have been delayed or canceled after powerful storms swept across parts of the country, including the mid-Atlantic and parts of the Northeast, where many busy hubs are located.

FlightAware data showed that as of Tuesday afternoon, more than 5,400 flights within, to or from the United States were delayed and more than 1,600 were cancelled. Still, that’s a significant drop from Monday’s chaos, when more than 11,000 flights were either delayed or canceled due to severe weather and air traffic control staffing problems.

United Airlines was again the worst performer among US domestic carriers. Approximately 16% of the flight schedule or 467 flights were canceled and another 37% or 1,062 flights were delayed just before 6pm ET. Republic Airways, which operates feeder flights for American Airlines, Delta and United, has had 35% of its schedule canceled (333 flights).

The four US airports hardest hit Tuesday afternoon are all major hubs for United or Delta: Newark Liberty in New Jersey, both New York City airports (LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy) and Logan in Boston. But the problems weren’t just limited to the Northeast. According to FlightAware, there were 17 airports across the country, from San Francisco to Orlando, that had at least 20% of their flights delayed.

More than 40 million people in the Northeast and Central Plains are at risk from severe storms on Tuesday. Most people at risk are in the Northeast, including Philadelphia and Washington, DC, where the Storm Prediction Center has issued a Level 1 out of 5 threat. Parts of Kansas and Oklahoma, including Wichita and Tulsa, have a Level 3 out of 5 severe weather risk.

Isolated thunderstorms are again expected east of a cold front from the mid-Atlantic to parts of the northeast, which can later lead to even more flight delays and cancellations.

Some of these afternoon storms could produce damaging gusts of wind, and heavy rains from these storms could result in isolated flash flooding, particularly over parts of southeastern New York, Delaware and Pennsylvania.

United’s CEO blames the FAA for the weekend’s delays

Since travel problems mounted on Saturday, more than 5,000 flights to, from or within the United States have been canceled and another 28,500 delayed, according to FlightAware’s midday statistics as of Tuesday noon.

While weather is partly to blame for the problem, understaffing at Federal Aviation Administration air traffic control centers and a lack of capacity at US airlines also play a role.

This exacerbates the problem as it makes it difficult for the system to deal with disruptions caused by inclement weather and for passengers to find seats on new flights when their original flight has been cancelled.

In a strongly worded memo to staff, the United Airlines chief blamed staffing problems at the FAA’s air traffic controllers for last weekend’s “unprecedented challenges,” which affected “over 150,000 customers at United alone.”

“The FAA frankly let us down this weekend,” United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said in an internal company memo shared with CNN.

Kirby says the FAA cut arrival rates at its main hub, Newark Liberty International Airport, by 40 percent and departure rates by 75 percent on Saturday, which “almost certainly reflects understaffing/less experience at the FAA.” .

“This resulted in massive delays, cancellations, diversions, crews and aircraft losing their position,” Kirby said. “And that brought everyone to their heads when the weather actually hit on Sunday, and was exacerbated by staffing shortages at the FAA on Sunday night.”

Kirby says he will be meeting with the FAA and the Department of Transportation “to discuss what short-term steps the FAA can take to prevent something like this from happening again this summer.”

The FAA responded Tuesday morning, saying, “We will always work with anyone who is genuinely willing to join us to resolve an issue.”

In the memo, Kirby carefully emphasized that current FAA leadership did not cause the current personnel problem, but that it must be addressed. “To be fair, it’s not the fault of the current FAA leadership,” he wrote, but added, “They are responsible for solving the problem they inherited.”

These latest problems come at a particularly busy time. With millions of passengers packing for commercial flights for the long holiday weekend, the Transportation Security Administration expects air traffic on July 4 will be even greater than before the pandemic.

The agency expects 2.82 million people to be screened at airports nationwide on Friday, beating a post-pandemic record set on June 16 and the 2.79 million passengers screened by the TSA on July 7, 2019 becomes.

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Japanese long-haul, low-cost airline ZIPAIR has announced plans to add San Francisco as its fourth US destination. The low-cost subsidiary of Japan Airlines plans to offer direct flights between Tokyo Narita International Airport (NRT) and San Francisco International Airport (SFO) this summer. However, an exact launch date has yet to be confirmed.

ZIPAIR launched non-stop services to nearby San Jose Airport in December. With the addition of San Francisco, the Japanese airline is strengthening its presence in the Bay Area – a key area for the Japanese market.

The airline plans to use a Boeing 787-8 to operate the 5,000+ mile route, which will have a total capacity of 290 passengers, including 18 fully reclining business class seats.

Photo: Courtesy of Boeing Global Services

“We are very excited to welcome the ZIPAIR service between SFO and Tokyo this summer,” said Ivar C. Satero, airport director at SFO. “With this move, travelers can enjoy ZIPAIR’s fantastic value for money along with SFO’s award-winning, world-class airport experience. We thank ZIPAIR for choosing SFO and are committed to making this new service a success.”

ZIPAIR is a relative newcomer to the aviation industry, having formed in the summer of 2018. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, it had to postpone the start of passenger services and initially operated only cargo flights that year. However, the company started commercial passenger flights in late 2020, and its fleet of four Boeing 787-8s now flies to six international destinations worldwide.

The Japanese carrier currently flies to Bangkok (BKK), Seoul-Incheon (ICN), Singapore Changi (SIN), Honolulu (HNL), Los Angeles (LAX) and San Jose (SJC) from its central hub in Tokyo Narita. San Francisco will be their seventh and fourth destination in the United States

ZIPAIR Inaugural San Jose Airport / Photo: Courtesy of ZIPAIR

The Japanese carrier will face intense competition on the Tokyo-San Francisco route as three airlines already operate non-stop flights between the two cities. United Airlines, All Nippon Airways (ANA) and Japan Airlines (JAL) operate all passenger services between SFO and Tokyo’s two airports – Narita and Haneda (HND). However, Zipair becomes the first low-cost airline to connect the two cities.

In addition to serving in San Francisco, ZIPAIR announced plans to begin direct flights to Manila Ninoy Aquino International Airport (MNL) in the Philippines later this year.

“San Francisco has very strong demand from both Japan and Asia, Manila is seeing an increase in traffic to and from Japan, and more and more people are traveling from the Philippines to North America,” said Shingo Nishida, Zipair’s president.

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The Japanese low-cost carrier has announced a new destination in the US as well as further regional expansion in Asia.

Photo: KITTIKUN YOKSAP | Shutterstock

ZIPAIR has announced that it will begin flights between Tokyo and San Francisco. Although the Japanese low-cost carrier has yet to announce a firm launch date for the route, flights are expected to begin in early summer. The transpacific flights connect ZIPAIR’s hub at Tokyo Narita Airport (NRT) with San Francisco International Airport (SFO) and are operated by Boeing 787-8.

ZIPAIR will face stiff competition from Japan Airlines, All Nippon Airways and United Airlines on the Tokyo – San Francisco route this summer. Using the August 2023 example, all three airlines plan to fly twice daily between the two cities, with each airline connecting San Francisco to Narita and Haneda airports. According to Cirium, this equates to 1,415 seats per day per direction.

Celebrating the news of ZIPAIR’s imminent arrival, San Francisco International Airport Director Ivar C. Satero said:

“We are very excited to welcome ZIPAIR service between SFO and Tokyo this summer. With this move, travelers can enjoy the fantastic value of ZIPAIR along with SFO’s award-winning, premium airport experience, making this new service a success.”

Photo: ZIPAIR

The growing international route network of ZIPAIR

San Francisco International Airport will be ZIPAIR’s third destination in California. The airline began flights to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) in December 2021 and began flights to San Jose International Airport (SJC) just under a year later. The flights are now operated daily or every five weeks. ZIPAIR also connects Tokyo to Honolulu International Airport (HNL). Outside the US, ZIPAIR flies to Bangkok (BKK), Seoul (ICN) and Singapore (SIN).

All of the airline’s flights are operated by Boeing 787-8 aircraft, of which ZIPAIR currently has four in its fleet and another three on order. Each aircraft can accommodate a total of 290 passengers in a two-class configuration – 18 in Business Class and 272 in Economy Class. The Boeing 787-8s previously flew for ZIPAIR’s parent company, Japan Airlines, and were handed over to the low-cost subsidiary when it began operations in 2020.

Photo: San Jose International Airport

If you’re traveling through San Francisco International Airport, why not stop by Terminal 3 and say hello to the Wag Brigade?

Another new route – Tokyo to Manila

In addition to its new route to San Francisco, ZIPAIR also announced plans to begin flights to Manila (MNL) later this year to accommodate connecting traffic between the Philippines and the United States. The airline’s President, Shingo Nishida, highlighted the rationale behind the launch of the two new services, saying:

“San Francisco has very strong demand from both Japan and Asia, Manila is seeing an increase in traffic to and from Japan, and more people are traveling to North America from the Philippines.”

As a sign of his confidence in the capabilities of the new routes, Nishida said the two new routes would become daily “as soon as possible”.

Photo: Viper Zero | Shutterstock

Have you flown ZIPAIR since the airline launched in 2020? Which route did you travel on and how do you rate the service of the Japanese low-cost carrier? Share your experience by commenting below.

Source: Aviation Wire, Cirium

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Air New Zealand has resumed flights between Auckland and San Francisco and announced firm restart dates to Honolulu and Houston. With the airline already flying back to Los Angeles and launching its long-awaited nonstop services to New York and Chicago later this year, New Zealand’s national carrier will be operating to six US cities by the end of October.

Air New Zealand’s SFO flights resume

On Thursday, Air New Zealand pushed back its first regular passenger service to San Francisco in a long time. NZ8 is now departing Auckland (AKL) at 19:50 local time every Thursday, Saturday, and Tuesday for the 12-hour flight across the Pacific to San Francisco (SFO), landing there at 12:50 local time on the same day.

SIMPLE FLYING VIDEO OF THE DAY

After half a day on the ground in SFO, the same plane turns around to operate NZ7 back to Auckland, departing San Francisco at 22:05 every Thursday, Saturday, and Tuesday for the run down to AKL, touching down in New Zealand’s biggest city at 06:10 two days later. All of Air New Zealand’s US services are serviced by its three-class Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners.

Air New Zealand’s Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners operate all the airline’s US flights. Photo: Getty Images

Air New Zealand reboots its US network as New Zealand reopens

After beginning to let fully vaccinated Kiwis return home earlier this year and raising the border gates to fully vaccinated Australians this week, New Zealand will reopen to fully vaccinated travelers from its long list of visa waiver countries (including the US) on May 1, and barring any further hiccups, will reopen to travelers from anywhere in October – subject to New Zealand’s normal entry requirements. Also from May 1, Air New Zealand will end its current no jab, no-fly vaccination policy for international passengers.

“Recommencing services across our North America routes as the border reopens is another step towards the gradual resumption of flights to destinations across our international network,” says Leanne Geraghty, Chief Customer and Sales Officer at Air New Zealand.

In more aviation news, Houston (IAH) will see Air New Zealand flights resume on Thursday, July 7. NZ28 will leave Auckland at 21:55 local time every Monday, Thursday, and Saturday and make the 13-and-a-half- hour flight across to the Texan city, landing in Houston at 4:20 p.m. local time on the same day. Later that day, Air New Zealand’s Dreamliner will depart Houston at 21:55 to make the 15-hour trek back to AKL, landing there at 05:55 two days later – just in time for breakfast.

Air New Zealand’s US network at the end of 2022. Image: gcmap.com

The best US network of any Southwest Pacific airline

On Tuesday, July 12, Air New Zealand’s Boeing 787-9s will also restart services to Honolulu (HNL). NZ10 will leave Auckland at 21:55 every Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday to fly the leisurely eight-and-a-half-hour hop up to Honolulu, landing there at 08:30 local time on the same day. After a fairly nearly 90-minute turnaround, NZ9 will leave HNL every Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday at 10:00 and hustle back to Auckland, landing at 17:00 the following day.

Air New Zealand’s thrice-weekly Dreamliner flights to New York JFK start on September 17 and provide the only nonstop flights between any Southwest Pacific city and the biggest city in the US. The same can be said for Air New Zealand’s flights between Auckland and Chicago (ORD), slated to start on October 30. Alongside the existing flights between Auckland and Los Angeles, that’s a tidy six cities in the US Air New Zealand will fly to by the years’ end – easily the best US network of any airline from the Southwest Pacific.

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“The fact that we retained daily passenger service to Australia throughout the lowest points of the pandemic – and were the only airline to do so – shows our commitment to Australia,” said Patrick Quayle, senior vice president of international network and alliances at United. “We are thrilled to resume our san francisco to Melbourne service and see a bright future ahead for United, for Melbourne and for US-Australia travel.”

Since Australia announced in February that the country would open its borders to international travelers after being closed for nearly two years, there has been remarkable growth in travel demand from the US United has more capacity from the United States to Australia than any other US carrier, and the resumption of the airline’s san francisco–Melbourne service will provide customers with even more access to Australia ahead of the busy summer travel period. Additionally, United’s recently announced commercial alliance with Virgin Australia will offer further connectivity to top Australian destinations with convenient one-stop flights.

United has worked closely with the Victorian government on the resumption of this service, as well as on broader plans for the market as demand continues to grow.

“We’re backing more direct international flights to Melbourne because we know the critical role they play in supporting Victorian businesses and creating jobs,” said Martin Pakula, Victorian Minister for Industry Support and Recovery. “Having more direct flights from the US means it is even easier for visitors to come to Victoria and enjoy everything we are famous for – whether that’s our major sporting events, food scene or cultural institutions.”

United began offering direct service to Melbourne from los Angeles in 2014 and launched non-stop flights between san francisco other Melbourne in October of 2019, prior to the onset of the pandemic.

For more information and to book flights, please visit united.com.

About United

United’s shared purpose is “Connecting People. Uniting the World.” In 2019, United and United Express® carriers operated more than 1.7 million flights carrying more than 162 million customers. United has the most comprehensive route network among North American carriers, including US mainland hubs in Chicago, Denver, Houston, los Angeles, new York/Newark, san francisco other Washington, DC For more about how to join the United team, please visit united.com/careers and more information about the company is at united.com. United Airlines Holdings, Inc. is traded on the Nasdaq under the symbol “UAL”.

SOURCE United Airlines

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While it’s not uncommon to find flights from New York City to Paris for under $ 500, it is extremely rare to find cheap flights from the West Coast to the City of Love. But the low-cost airline French Bee is now offering round-trip flights from San Francisco to Paris for just under $ 400.

One-way trips start at $ 189 from San Francisco to Paris, but can only be booked through the French Bee website, airport ticket center, or call center. The ticket includes a £ 26 piece of luggage and is a non-refundable ticket. And as with everything, there is a catch: The tickets are limited and have no guarantee for eternity. So if you wanted to go from California to Paris, act fast.

That’s not the only thing the French Bee has to offer. There are also cheap deals between San Francisco and Tahiti (one-way tickets from $ 329) and New York and Paris (one-way tickets from $ 199). The same restrictions and restrictions apply to these flights. Start by finding dates and reading the fine print on frenchbee.com.

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United Airlines is changing its flights to and from New York’s John F Kennedy Airport. United’s Boeing 767-300s have been serving the airport since returning to JFK earlier this year. From October 5th, United’s aircraft at JFK will switch to Boeing 757-200s.

United Airlines will switch from JFK to Boeing 757-200 in October. Photo: Vincenzo Pace / Simple Flying

Overall, more seats from JFK, but fewer premium seats

The result is that slightly larger aircraft will serve United’s two sectors to and from JFK. United’s 757-200 seats 169 passengers versus 167 passengers carried in the Boeing 767-300. But the 767-300 has far more premium seats than the 757-200. As noted in One Mile At A Time, the reduction in premium seating capacity suggests that United’s attempt to use premium transcontinental traffic from JFK is not going as well as expected.

After a six-year absence, United Airlines returned to JFK to fly only two routes – the overland flights to Los Angeles (LAX) and San Francisco (SFO). United’s main hub in New York is 33 miles west of Newark.

United is trying to secure a larger part of the lucrative business travel market for itself across the network. Last month, the airline confirmed that business travel is recovering faster than expected, reaching around 60% of 2019 levels.

The transcontinental routes between the economic centers of the east coast and the west coast are particularly lucrative. United’s problem was that many business travelers preferred JFK to Newark, and it lost market share and revenue to competing airlines. Delta Air Lines, JetBlue and American Airlines all offer a high quality, premium seating product across from JFK’s west coast airports.

United Boeing 767-300 will leave JFK in early October. Photo: Vincenzo Pace / Simple Flying

Market task or market reality?

With its Boeing 757-200 aircraft operating out of JFK, United Airlines will offer far more economy class seats and far fewer premium seats. And the remaining premium seats are less premium. United’s Polaris seats on the 767-300 have a desirable 1-1-1 layout while the layout on the 757-200 is 2-2.

Whether the change in aircraft type is a signal of surrender from United or a confirmation that there is more revenue chasing mainstream economy class passengers is a guess. But the vast majority of passengers don’t care much about aircraft types. Working up a sweat on aircraft types and cabin configurations is largely the job of frequent fliers and airline junkies.

A United Boeing 757-200 climbs out of LAX. Photo: Vincenzo Pace / Simple Flying

The gist of United’s plane swap

United has two daily departures from JFK to LAX, UA515 departing at 8:45 AM and UA517 departing at 6:50 PM. The final 767-300 departure is UA515 on October 5th. UA517 that evening and scheduled flights thereafter are listed on United’s online flight schedules, which operate from 757-200.

The last United 767-300 from LAX is UA516, departing at 2:30 p.m. on Monday, October 4th. 200s.

United Airlines also offers two daily round-trip flights from JFK-SFO. From JFK, UA521 departs at 8:00 AM and UA523 departs at 5:10 PM. The Boeing 757-200 will fly UA523 for the first time on Tuesday, October 5th, after which it will operate both flights to San Francisco.

The 757-200 takes over from SFO heading east on the morning of October 5th. The aircraft type will debut this morning on UA520, departing at 9:00 a.m. Thereafter, the 757-200 will operate both the UA520 and the UA522 afternoon flight to JFK.

United doesn’t say much about the plane change. But despite its lackluster status, the United 757-200 fleet has its fans. While many might condemn United to pull their 767s from JFK, many more don’t get excited. Regardless of the aircraft type, the longer term question is whether United can operate its overland flights from JFK

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