- 58% increase in available seats to mainland North America over summer 23/24
- 500,000 travellers between mainland North America and Auckland from November 2023 to February 2024
- Around 50% are travellers from the USA – up 56% on summer 22/23
- 20% more Kiwis flying on North American routes
- Competition brings 12% reduction in fares on North American routes
Between October and March, six airlines have been flying non-stop to seven mainland North American cities from Auckland. Between March to October, the Northern Summer aviation season, four airlines will continue flying non-stop between Auckland Airport and six North American cities.
Scott Tasker, Chief Customer Officer at Auckland Airport, said the mix of exciting new routes and additional carriers have cracked open the North American market, creating airfare competition and driving the demand.“The capacity and competition have really benefited travellers with some great fares, which overall are down 12% on last year. There’s never been more seats available between Auckland Airport and North America and what we’re seeing is travellers are really taking advantage of this,” he said.
“California has traditionally been a strong market for inbound tourism and when we look at the 40 million-odd Americans who had New Zealand at the top of their travel bucket list, more than 20% call California home. We’ve seen that flow through into traveller numbers with a 180% increase in US nationals on the Los Angeles route this summer. We also can’t underestimate the power of having those three major US airlines plus Air Canada connecting with Auckland. Collectively they have around 300 million people in their loyalty programmes, providing great brand and consumer reach, and domestic network coverage that makes a long-haul destination like New Zealand that little bit easier to get to, added Scott
Auckland Airport’s investment in a new domestic terminal will further enhance our desire to deliver a quality New Zealand travel experience to highly valued international visitors from the United States, Canada and elsewhere, with a quick, easy connection through to domestic jet services once the integrated terminal opens. Bringing a 26% increase in aircraft capacity, the new terminal creates opportunities to add more airline seats to jet-enabled domestic destinations along with 44% more space for passenger processing.