AirNZ adds seats on trans-Pacific routes

Air New Zealand is significantly boosting peak capacity on select trans-Pacific routes with more flights to Vancouver and Honolulu. The airline will fly almost 60,000 extra seats between Auckland and Honolulu between April and October next year. The 75 per cent increase in seat count will see the airline operate an additional 94 return services with up to nine flights a week during the July school holiday period. The services will be operated by a mixture of Boeing 787-9 and Boeing 777-200 aircraft. AirNZ is also increasing capacity on its Vancouver-Auckland operation by 20 per cent from January to July next year. The airline will move from seven to eight weekly services during the first half of the January peak period and from five weekly services to daily flights during February. It will increase to five services a week in March and April (up from four) and four weekly services during May to mid-June (up from three). Air New Zealand chief revenue officer Cam Wallace said Hawaii was a favourite destination of New Zealanders wanting to escape winter. “Air New Zealand has increased its services to Honolulu to offer customers even more flexibility as well as a greater number of premium seats during the peak periods by deploying our Boeing 777-200,” he said. Wallace said the Vancouver increases recognised Canada as a winter destination for Kiwis but also aimed to give Canadians better access to New Zealand through the shoulder season.