China Southern Airlines, with the nation's largest air fleet, said on Thursday (March 3) that it would fly directly between Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province, and Auckland, New Zealand starting on April 8.
This would be the first non-stop air service between the two countries offered by a Chinese airline. Currently, only Air New Zealand flies directly from New Zealand to Shanghai and Beijing in China.
The airline will offer three round trip flights per week to help meet rising demand from visitors heading to New Zealand.
New Zealand registered 122,000 Chinese tourists last year, an annual increase of 20 percent.
