American Airlines Launches Nonstop Flights Between Dallas and Auckland
The Dallas-based carrier is now operating daily flights between its Texan hub and New Zealand's biggest city
Auckland, New Zealand / Photo: Henry McIntosh/Unsplash
American Airlines has launched nonstop flights between its main hub in Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) and Auckland Airport (AKL) in New Zealand. The almost 7,500-mile-long journey to New Zealand is expected to take just over 15 hours, while the return leg to Dallas should take around 13 hours and 45 minutes.
All flights on the Dallas-Auckland route will be operated by the airline’s new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners, which has a total capacity of 285 passengers. The Dreamliner comes equipped with 30 Flagship Business class seats, 21 Premium Economy seats, and 34 Main Cabin Extra seats. The remaining 200 seats are sold under the standard Main Cabin fare.
Customers will be surrounded with comfort and expansive personal surface and storage areas that they can utilize to fit their needs in the Boeing 787-9 Flagship Suite / Photo: Courtesy of American Airlines
During the COVID pandemic, New Zealand implemented some of the tightest restrictions in the world, stopping all international travel for the best part of two years. But since COVID restrictions have dropped recently, American Airlines felt now was the right time to launch a daily service to the country.
“With all of the restrictions being lifted in New Zealand now for travel, we were just really ready to go back in,” Jim Moses, A.A.’s Vice President for DFW, told The Dallas Morning News. “It’s not just for the local market. It’s to feed into American’s connecting ability out of this hub.”
Photo: Courtesy of Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport
The introduction of the route is part of American Airlines’ plan to use Dallas-Fort Worth as its main international hub for flights to the Asia-Pacific region, looking to bring great benefits to New Zealanders, as they can use Dallas as a springboard to more than 200 destinations.
“The addition of a nonstop service to Auckland caps off a year of significant international growth at DFW. Our customers will benefit from not only a new destination they can get to from our airport but an additional opportunity to visit the southern hemisphere and a chance to enjoy New Zealand’s largest city and all it has to offer,” said Sean Donohue, the airport’s CEO.
The daily flights, which started on October 30, are scheduled to leave Dallas-Fort Worth at 10:44 PM, arriving at 7:45 AM in Auckland. The return journeys will depart Auckland at 12:40 PM each day, arriving at Dallas-Forth Worth at 8:24 AM.
In addition to this new route operated by American Airlines, the New Zealand flag carrier Air New Zealand has recently resumed direct flights from Auckland to Chicago O’Hare. This means that Air New Zealand has restored all direct routes to the U.S., and the country feels more connected to New Zealand than ever before.
