[Photo from www.newzealand.com]

On February 24, Sichuan Airlines announced to open a direct air route from Chengdu to Auckland, the largest city in New Zealand, on June 13. This is the third regular air link between the city and Oceania after Melbourne and Sydney. The company will operate three weekly round-trip services. Each one-way journey takes about 13 hours in the air.

Currently, Sichuan Airlines is selling the tickets online. The minimum round-trip air fare excluding tax is 2600 yuan (about 377 US dollars).

Sichuan Airlines will use A330 aircraft to operate the service on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Numbered 3U8699, the outbound flight leaves at 01:55 from Chengdu and arrives in Auckland at 18:45 (local time), and the inbound one numbered 3U8910 departs at 20:30 (local time) from Auckland and arrives in Chengdu at 06:00 the next day.

Email: lijia@nbd.com.cn