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| Auckland, New Zealand. // Photo by Freeimages.com/Nick Walton |
United Airlines and Air New Zealand recently announced a joint venture revenue-sharing agreement, deepening the partnership between the two airlines, which are both members of Star Alliance.
Under the new revenue-sharing agreement, the carriers will more closely coordinate sales and marketing in order to offer their mutual customers more travel options between the mainland U.S. and New Zealand, as well as to other destinations throughout the airlines’ route networks.
The arrangement will begin when United launches its nonstop service between San Francisco and Auckland on July 1, 2016, subject to government approval.
“This joint venture will allow us to work more closely with Air New Zealand to optimize our transpacific schedules and offer more convenient flight choices to our customers in both the U.S. and New Zealand,” said Jim Compton, United’s vice chairman and chief revenue officer, in a written release. “We look forward to continuing to work with Air New Zealand, an industry innovator and leader, to further grow our business in ways that will benefit our mutual customers.”
Air New Zealand currently operates nonstop service to five North American destinations from Auckland, including daily flights to San Francisco, twice-daily flights to Los Angeles, and five weekly flights to Houston.
With the start of United’s San Francisco-Auckland flights on July 1, the two carriers will operate complementary service on that route, with their respective nonstop flights timed to offer travelers more choice and convenience across the airlines’ combined networks.
Initially, United will operate the service three times weekly using Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft, transitioning to daily service in November 2016, with larger Boeing 787-9 aircraft.
Visit www.airnewzealand.com and www.united.com