North American debut for Air New Zealand’s Dreamliner

Air New Zealand’s Boeing 787 Dreamliner will touch down in Hawaii for the first time this week.

The airline is replacing its B767 with the new B787-9 aircraft on the Auckland-Honolulu route, with the first flight scheduled to depart New Zealand at 2055 tonight and arrive in Honolulu at 0730 the same day, having crossed the International Date Line.

This will mark the first time the airline has operated the Dreamliner to North America.

“The overnight flight and benefits of the higher humidity and lower cabin altitude on the revolutionary Dreamliner means customers can arrive feeling relaxed and more refreshed,” said Air New Zealand’s chief sales & commercial officer, Cam Wallace.

“As Hawaii continues to be a popular holiday destination for Kiwi travellers, we’re thrilled to be adding additional capacity and are confident more Australian customers will be looking to connect through Auckland on our evening Dreamliner service.”

Earlier this year, Air New Zealand increased the frequency of its Auckland-Honolulu service to four flights per week. Combined with the capacity increase the B787-9 will deliver, the airline will increase the number of seats it offers on the route by almost 20%.

Air New Zealand’s Dreamliner offers 302 seats, including flat beds in business class, its new premium economy cabin and the Economy Skycouch concept, which converts a row of three economy class seats into a flat bed.