Air New Zealand Offers 17-Hour Flights from New York to Auckland

(AP) - New Zealand’s flagship airline said Wednesday it has started selling tickets for direct flights to and from New York, a new route that will take more than 17 hours southbound and be among the longest nonstop flights in the world.

Air New Zealand had intended to start the route from Auckland to John F. Kennedy International Airport in 2020 but then the pandemic hit. The first flights will now begin in September.

For two years, the South Pacific nation imposed some of the world’s toughest border restrictions. But the government announced earlier this month that it would reopen to tourists from the U.S. and many other countries by May 1 as the pandemic threat receded.

Flights on the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner are scheduled to last 16 hours northbound, helped slightly by the prevailing winds, and 17-and-a-half hours southbound. Time differences can help make it seem more like an overnight flight — albeit a long night — coming into New Zealand.

The new flights would be about 14,200 kilometers (8,800 miles) each way and tickets start from about 2,000 New Zealand dollars ($1,400) roundtrip.