Air New Zealand Boosts Services to Shanghai and Hong Kong

From 31 October 2007, Air New Zealand will operate two additional services per week between Auckland and Shanghai, increasing its weekly operations from three to five services per week.

The airline will also introduce double daily services between Auckland and Hong Kong on Fridays and Sundays from 30 November 2007 to 2 March 2008.

"As we had anticipated, demand for these services is now comfortably strong enough to justify these new services," said Air New Zealand Group General Manager, International Airline Ed Sims.

"Our new daily service to London via Hong Kong has stimulated new business on the Auckland to Hong Kong leg, to the point that we're now able to add two more services over the peak season," he said.

"It's always been our intention to grow the North Asia market and these new services reflect the focus we continue to place on developing inbound and outbound tourism opportunities.

"Our ability to offer the quickest and most direct route to North Asia from New Zealand and Australia has also brought strong growth from our cargo business which we will continue to nurture over the coming years," said Mr Sims.

The airline is also introducing several changes later this month.

From 31 March 2007, Air New Zealand will commence a weekly Saturday service between Wellington and Nadi, and Christchurch and Nadi. This will increase to two services per week over the winter season between 3 July and 29 September.

Operated by A320 aircraft, the new services reflect the increasing demand for direct flights to the Pacific Islands.

"Fiji continues to be a popular leisure destination for Kiwis looking for a quick break that's affordable. These direct services make Fiji even more accessible for Wellingtonians and Cantabrians wanting to escape to warmer climates over the winter season," Mr Sims said.

A summary of Air New Zealand's additional services follow:

Issued by Air New Zealand Public Affairs, contact: +649 336 2761

ENDS

NOTE: The content of all Air New Zealand media releases are accurate at the time of issue, as stated at the top of each release. For updates on any changes, please contact Air New Zealand.

Air New Zealand is proud to be a member of Star Alliance. The Star Alliance network was established in 1997 as the first truly global airline alliance to offer worldwide reach, recognition and seamless service to the international traveller. Its acceptance by the market has been recognised by numerous awards, including the Air Transport World Market Leadership Award, Best Airline Alliance by both Business Traveller Magazine and Skytrax. The member airlines are: Adria Airways, Air Canada, Air China, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana Airlines, Austrian, Blue1, bmi, Continental Airlines, Croatia Airlines, EGYPTAIR, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines, Shanghai Airlines, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, Spanair, SWISS, TAP Portugal, Turkish Airlines, THAI, United and US Airways. Aegean Airlines, Air India, Brussels Airlines and TAM have been announced as future members. Overall, the Star Alliance network offers 19,500 daily flights to 1,071 airports in 171 countries.

For more information about Air New Zealand visit www.airnewzealand.com and for more information about Star Alliance visit www.staralliance.com.