Airline offers 17-hour flights from New York to New Zealand

By NICK PERRY
Associated Press

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand’s flagship airline says it has started selling tickets for direct flights to and from New York. The new route will take more than 17 hours southbound and be among the longest nonstop flights in the world. Air New Zealand had intended to start the route from Auckland to John F. Kennedy International Airport in 2020 but then the pandemic hit. The first flights will now begin in September. For two years, the South Pacific nation imposed some of the world’s toughest border restrictions. But the government announced earlier this month that it would reopen to tourists from the U.S. and many other countries by May 1.