Qantas is set to resume flights to New York’s John F Kennedy Airport from June 2023, with services set to operate three times per week from Auckland, New Zealand, with a Boeing 787-9 aircraft.
The move will boost the inbound travel market for both Australia and New Zealand, thanks to the services which will be popular with East Coast residents in the United States.
The Flying Kangaroo formerly served the Big Apple prior to the pandemic from Los Angeles, with direct connections to and from Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney.
The move will also see Qantas return to the New Zealand-USA market for the first time in several years, since the Flying Kangaroo ceased operating A330 flights between Auckland and Los Angeles.
Flights will commence on June 14, 2023 and Qantas Group CEO, Alan Joyce, said flying via Auckland would provide better connectivity from more destinations in Australia, before an uninterrupted 16-hour flight to New York.
“We’re back flying to most of our pre-COVID destinations, which is a fantastic achievement by our teams and so important for Australians reconnecting with the rest of the world,” he said.
“We can’t wait to return to New York and it’s made possible by the delivery of new aircraft, which have been caught up in delays that have impacted lots of airlines.
“Customer feedback on our direct London and Rome services show how well suited our Dreamliner cabins are to longer international flights like these, which is helped by the fact we designed them with more room and fewer seats than most of our competitors.
“We think this route will be very popular with Australians given the opportunity to connect via Auckland and it also gives New Zealanders more choice,” Joyce said.
Qantas currently operates six daily services to Auckland from Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne which will increase to 11 daily services when the new flight to New York launches.
Qantas will also fly two ‘Points Planes’ in the first week, with all seats across every cabin available as a Classic Reward flight on QF3 and QF4 on 16 June.
According to Qantas, Points Plane connections will also be available for Frequent Flyers based in Brisbane and Melbourne to use Classic Rewards for their trans-Tasman flights.