Air New Zealand will add 5,000 return seats to North America each month, further filling the gap created by Qantas’ withdrawal from the Auckland-Los Angeles route earlier this year.
Air NZ will up capacity to San Francisco, Vancouver and Los Angeles from April 2013. Its Auckland-San Francisco route will go to daily, Auckland-Los Angeles to twice daily and Auckland-Vancouver will rise to three weekly return services in off peak periods and five in peak.
The airline revealed the additional capacity would replace more than 75% of the seats lost from the California market when its competitor exited the route in May.
“This is a huge boost for the visitor economy from North America and offers additional opportunities for New Zealand exporters,” deputy chief executive Norm Thompson said.
The changes build on capacity increases on North American routes announced in March, with the airline anticipating further additions beyond July 13 would be revealed in the coming weeks.
