Air New Zealand has launched a 17-hour flight to New York City

(CNN) – Air New Zealand operates direct flights between Auckland and New York for the first time in its history.

The long-distance route will launch from Auckland on September 17, 2022, and this is another exciting piece of news that signals the gradual reopening of New Zealand to global tourism.

Flights from Auckland will be NZ2 and flights departing from JFK Airport in New York will be counted as NZ1. Those numbers signify the importance of the new route for Air New Zealand (ANZ).

“Traditionally, flight numbers 1 and 2 are used for the main route of an aircraft. That would be New York: our primary route, “Greg Foren, the airline’s chief executive, said in a statement.

Each leg of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner operates three times a week. Tickets are already on sale on the ANZ website.

Passengers arriving from New Zealand will depart Auckland Airport (AKL) at 7:40 pm and then spend 16 hours on the flight before arriving at JFK. Flights from JFK to Auckland take 17 hours and 35 minutes, making it one of the longest flights in the world.

“We have worked incredibly hard over the last few years to make this ultra-long-distance service a reality,” Foren added. “We think a lot about the in-house experience to ensure customers come to New York with a sense of refreshment, and the teams are working around the clock to make sure this is the best flight experience ever.”

Currently, the world’s longest passenger plane is on Singapore Airlines between Singapore and JFK. It covers 9,534 miles and spends about 18 hours in the air.

The flight from Perth in Western Australia to London on Qantas is competing with one of the longest routes in the world. It resumes at the end of March after an epidemic-related break.

Qantas’ long-cherished dream direct flight between Sydney and London, dubbed “Project Sunrise”, will be a 19+ hour flight that will easily take first place when it starts. The project came to a halt when Govt-19 spread around the world.

In an interview with CNN’s Richard Quest late last year, Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said the airline planned to reconsider the development of these long-haul routes in 2022 and aims to launch them in the next two or three years.

The epidemic was the cause of many records related to aviation.

Normally that flight would involve a relocation to Los Angeles, but travel restrictions made it impossible and allowed the aircraft to make the entire journey without relocation.

Air New Zealand already operates several flights between its homeland and the United States (directly to Chicago, Honolulu, Houston, Los Angeles and San Francisco), as well as one up to Vancouver north of the border in British Columbia, Canada.