Earlier this month, china Southern Airlines launched the first direct flights between Auckland in New Zealand and GuangZhou. The airline company shall operate three round trips per week. Outbound flights shall leave Guangzhou at 23:50 every Tuesday, Friday and Sunday and return every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. The journey takes 12.5 hours.

China is New Zealand’s second largest trade partner. The largest percent of overseas students in the country is from China and the number of chinese tourists increased 20% year-on-year in 2010 generating 283 million USD. However, up until last month, the only direct flights between Chinese mainland and Zealand were operated by Air New Zealand and flew to Beijing and Shanghai.

The China Southern Airlines plans to launch two direct fights from Guangzhou to Amsterdam and Vancouver in the coming months whilst intensifying flights to Paris, Los Angeles and Southeast Asia.