United Airlines resumes flights to New Zealand

Effective October 1, 2022, United Airlines resumes flights between San Francisco (SFO) and Auckland (AKL) with three weekly flights, closing a 27-month hiatus, as the carrier’s last New Zealand operation was in March 2020. The Chicago-based airline will be the only U.S. operate to offer nonstop service between the California state and the Kiwi nation.

The route will initially be operated on Boeing 777-200ER aircraft with a capacity of 274 seats in three classes (50 Polaris Business Class/24 Premium Economy/202 Economy) and will offer 1,656 seats per week. Air New Zealand, a Star Alliance and United Transpacific Joint Venture partner, will offer daily segment flights on Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft.

Data compiled by Aviacionline through Infoshare indicates that in 2019 between Auckland (SFO) and San Francisco (SFO) moved 250,504 passengers was the second largest market between New Zealand and the United States, only behind Los Angeles (LAX).

Flight Itinerary

San Francisco – Auckland Flight UA 917 SFO 23:10 – AKL+2 Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
Auckland – San Francisco Flight UA 916 AKL 14:30 – SFO 06:45 Monday, Thursday and Saturday.

As of October 28, the airline will increase this service to daily flights, will change aircraft and reintroduce the Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner with a capacity of 318 seats in three classes (44 Polaris Business Class/21 Premium Economy/253 Economy). With this action, United restores 100% of its offer in this service with respect to the same period prior to the pandemic.

According to data obtained by Aviacionline through Cirium, the Chicago-based airline will have an offer of 25,251 seats per week between the United States with Australia and New Zealand for the 2022/2023 boreal winter season, the largest U.S. operator in this market.