Kevin Wen, Sichuan Airlines regional director for New Zealand and Australia, said the direct Chengdu\u2013Auckland services would be on Airbus A350 widebody aircraft.<\/p>\n
\u201cSichuan Airlines has long valued the New Zealand market,\u201d Wen said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve worked closely with Auckland Airport to restart this important route and build a convenient, efficient air bridge for travellers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tasker said the new service should bring about 22,000 more visitors to New Zealand annually, delivering an estimated $130 million in spending.<\/p>\n
That would equate to about $5900 per person.<\/p>\n
\u201cDirect flights are also critical for high-value trade,\u201d Auckland Airport said today.<\/p>\n
It estimated that the service could support up to $150m of annual cargo capacity, carrying premium New Zealand exports such as fresh seafood, fruit and flowers into China.<\/p>\n
The airport handled nearly 3000 tonnes of cherry exports<\/a> last summer, and more than 1000 tonnes each of capsicums and avocados.<\/p>\n Sichuan Airlines operates from Chengdu Tianfu International Airport, which opened in 2021.<\/p>\n The Los Angeles Times has said that Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, is known for spicy cuisine, riverside tea houses and pandas.<\/p>\n The newspaper has also dubbed Chengdu one of China\u2019s best cities for parties.<\/p>\n Australian news agency AAP said in 2017 that Sichuan women were \u201cknown as the most beautiful in China\u201d<\/a> and that Chengdu was the country\u2019s capital of hot and spicy food.<\/p>\n The city is east of Tibet, about 2000km west of Shanghai, and has a population of about 21 million.<\/p>\n Auckland\u2019s other flights to China include routes with Air China to Beijing, Air New Zealand and China Eastern to Shanghai, and China Southern to Guangzhou.<\/p>\n The other routes are with Hainan Airlines<\/a> to Shenzhen in southeast China and Haikou on Hainan island, off China\u2019s south coast.<\/p>\n And from Christmas Day, China Eastern will operate a Shanghai-Auckland-Buenos Aires journey twice a week.<\/p>\n The airport has said that Argentina flight should help address a gap in direct capacity between New Zealand and South America, which last month was down 46% compared to the pre-Covid era.<\/p>\n In July, overseas visitor arrivals from China were down 3700 from a year earlier.<\/p>\n Last month, Stats NZ announced a record 730,000 trips were made by New Zealand residents to Asia<\/a> in the year to June 30.<\/p>\n The agency said that was mainly driven by more trips to Indonesia, China, Japan and India.<\/p>\n