Auckland International Airport : Inaugural Hong Kong Airlines flight touches down at Auckland Airport

November 11 saw Hong Kong Airlines, the internationally acclaimed full-service airline, make its inaugural first daily direct service to Auckland.

To commemorate the official launch of this new route, Hong Kong Airlines held celebration events at Hong Kong International Airport and Auckland Airport.

All passengers scheduled to depart the inaugural flight from Hong Kong were presented with a commemorative certificate and boarding pass envelope to mark the occasion and show gratitude for their support of the new route.

On arrival at Auckland Airport, all passengers, flight crew and senior management of Hong Kong Airlines received a warm welcome, with the airport organising a traditional water cannon salute to commemorate the inaugural flight.

The ceremony was officiated by: Mr. Li Dianchun, Chief Commercial Officer of Hong Kong Airlines; Mr. Jason Delamore, General Manager, Marketing & Technology, Auckland Airport; Mr. Andrew Clark, Regional Director, Australia, New Zealand & South Pacific, Hong Kong Tourism Board; Madam Xu Erwen, Chinese Consul General; and Mr. Dick Quax, Auckland Council Representative.

In his speech at the welcome ceremony, Mr. Li Dianchun said, 'We are delighted with the successful launch of this much-anticipated new route to Auckland, New Zealand. So far, we have received an overwhelming response from travellers since tickets became available for purchase. As a result, we have already increased our service to 10 times weekly from 11th December 2016 to 13th February 2017. We expect New Zealand will become a popular destination with our travellers who would like to enjoy the stunning beauty of this country. We also anticipate strong demand out of the New Zealand market to Hong Kong and connecting on our network in Asia. We hope that our new route will further strengthen the cultural, tourism and business ties between these two countries.'

Mr. Li Dianchun continued, 'With the success of our service to Australia earlier this year, Hong Kong Airlines is more than delighted to announce this second long haul service, operating daily to Auckland, New Zealand. There has been a steady increase year on year in the number of Hong Kong and China travellers visiting New Zealand. According to official figures by New Zealand Government, as of September 2016, the total number of visitors from Hong Kong and China has recorded a rise of 18.8% and 23.7% respectively. Leveraging on our connectivity in Asia via the international hub Hong Kong, we believe this Hong Kong Airlines new service to Auckland will be welcomed by passengers from Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Chengdu, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Okinawa, Tokyo, Bangkok and Taipei, offering them more travel options.'