American Airlines will begin daily nonstop service between Dallas-Fort Worth and New Zealand, the airline announced Thursday.
American said between October 29 and March 25, 2023, it will offer the daily flight from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport to Auckland Airport in New Zealand utilizing the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
The route was initially announced in October 2019 but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Auckland joins a lineup of exciting international destinations that we offer from DFW, and as DFW’s hometown airline, we are proud to open the splendors of New Zealand to our local customers and those who connect through DFW from across our global network,” said Jim Moses, American’s vice president of DFW operations.
This will be one of the longest flights available, departing from DFW at 10:30 p.m. and arriving two days later at 7:45 a.m., accounting for the 17-hour time difference between the two countries.
The announcement comes as American cancels seven other international routes due to “soft demand” for the flights. These include DFW to Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv, DFW to Jorge Chavez International Airport near Lima, Peru, Seattle-Tacoma International to Bangalore, JFK to Alfonso Bonilla Aragón International Airport in Colombia, Dallas to Beijing, and Seattle to Shanghai.
Auckland is located on the Northern Island of New Zealand and is the island’s largest city. The country has become a significant tourist destination in the past two years. It was used as a filming location for Peter Jackson’s film adaptations of the Lord of the Rings trilogy by JRR Tolkien. It was also used in his follow-up trilogy that focused on the prequel book, The Hobbit.
Vasu Raja, American Airlines’ Senior Vice President of Network Strategy, said during the initial announcement in 2019, “Now, we’re able to get customers from places like Louisville, Savannah, or Monterrey, Mexico, all the way to New Zealand with just one stop.”
DFW is becoming a hub for Oceanic travel. Earlier this year, Qantas announced nonstop flights between DFW and Melbourne. According to the airport, DFW is the only airport not on the west coast to offer nonstop flights to Melbourne.