Chinese carrier Hainan Airlines is broadening its Southwest Pacific presence by introducing a second nonstop route to New Zealand.

The airline initiated operations to the country in December 2016, connecting its Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport (SZX) hub to Auckland Airport (AKL). The year-round service continued until the onset of the pandemic in early 2020. Operations recommenced in June of this year, marking a revival after a suspension lasting more than three years.

Hainan’s forthcoming route to New Zealand will also be to AKL, originating from Haikou—the capital of Hainan province and home to approximately 2 million residents. Data provided by OAG Schedules Analyser shows that flights from Haikou Meilan International Airport (HAK) will run three times per week from Dec. 8 using Boeing 787-9 equipment.

Once the new 5,739-mi. (4,987-nm) route launches, the carrier plans to maintain its 3X-weekly service from SZX, which operates onboard Airbus A330-300 aircraft. The move will increase the airline’s capacity to and from New Zealand to about 3,500 weekly seats.

Auckland will now be the third destination in the Southwest Pacific region available from HAK, joining Melbourne and Sydney, both of which are currently served by Hainan Airlines. Additionally, Hainan’s new link means that Haikou becomes the sixth city in mainland China to be served nonstop from AKL, joining Beijing, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Shanghai and Shenzhen.

Alongside Hainan’s SZX service, OAG data shows that by mid-December, Air China will offer daily flights to AKL from Beijing Capital International Airport, while China Southern Airlines will fly double-daily from Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport.

China Eastern Airlines will have two routes—operating 2X-weekly from Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport and daily from Shanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG)—and Air New Zealand will also serve PVG daily.

Hainan is headquartered in Haikou and operates a hub from the city’s airport. It connects HAK with 33 domestic and 6 international points at present, providing some weekly 63,300 departure seats. This compares with 31 domestic and 10 international destinations at this time in 2019 and 70,500 weekly seats.

The new route follows a boom in North American air connections to AKL. By the end of December, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines will all be operating to AKL from Los Angeles International Airport.

“If we look through to January, we’ve got 27 more flights per week to North American destinations than we had back in January 2020,” AKL Chief Customer Officer Scott Tasker says. “That really signals the level of demand out there to visit and enjoy what’s on offer in New Zealand ... This [southern hemisphere] summer, we’ll have seven airlines flying nonstop to eight North American cities.”