Boeing’s first commercial 787 Dreamliner to fly to New Zealand made a safe landing at Auckland International Airport on October 28, 2013. From now on, the Chinese Southern plane will fly on a daily basis from the city of Guangzhou in China to Auckland.
At the moment, the airline is using the A330, which will be replaced by Boeing 787 Dreamliner on the daily flights from Guangzhou to Auckland. This will increase China Southern Airlines’ seat capacity by around 5 percent on a yearly basis. The second Dreamliner aircraft will be flown by China Southern Airlines for the peak summer period from December 4, 2013 to March 1, 2014, which means that the number of weekly flights will soon be increased from seven to ten on the Guangzhou-Auckland route.
On October 28, 2013, the Auckland Airport’s general manager aeronautical commercial, Glenn Wedlock said that the decision to use Dreamliners on the Auckland route, along with an increase in weekly flights. Wedlock went on to say, “The daily arrival of this new aircraft also provides a snapshot of what we will see from Chinese air travel in the future, in particular, the importance of our relationship with the Guangdong region as an Asian hub for New Zealand aviation”.
More than 236,000 Chinese visited New Zealand in the last 12 months, until September 2013.
Photo Credits: The Aviation writer
