Auckland getting more flights to China’s panda city

The China Sichuan Mid-Autumn Food and Mooncakes Culture Festival, in Chengdu last Friday. Photo / An Yuan, cnsphoto, Imaginechina via AFP

More direct flights from Auckland to China will operate to a city known for pandas, parties and Sichuan cuisine.

Auckland Airport said Sichuan Airlines would start flying to Chengdu, inland China, in December.

From December 7, the airline will operate two flights a week, doubling the seasonal schedule it had last summer.

Auckland Airport chief customer officer Scott Tasker said the announcement cemented Chengdu as its eighth mainland Chinese destination.

“Over the coming summer, we expect up to 50 flights a week will connect Auckland with China.”

Kevin Wen, Sichuan Airlines regional director for New Zealand and Australia, said the direct Chengdu–Auckland services would be on Airbus A350 widebody aircraft.

“Sichuan Airlines has long valued the New Zealand market,” Wen said.

“We’ve worked closely with Auckland Airport to restart this important route and build a convenient, efficient air bridge for travellers.”

Tasker said the new service should bring about 22,000 more visitors to New Zealand annually, delivering an estimated $130 million in spending.

That would equate to about $5900 per person.

“Direct flights are also critical for high-value trade,” Auckland Airport said today.

It estimated that the service could support up to $150m of annual cargo capacity, carrying premium New Zealand exports such as fresh seafood, fruit and flowers into China.

The airport handled nearly 3000 tonnes of cherry exports last summer, and more than 1000 tonnes each of capsicums and avocados.

Sichuan Airlines operates from Chengdu Tianfu International Airport, which opened in 2021.

The Los Angeles Times has said Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, is known for spicy cuisine, riverside tea houses and pandas.

The newspaper has also dubbed Chengdu one of China’s best cities for parties.

Australian news agency AAP said in 2017 that Sichuan women were “known as the most beautiful in China” and Chengdu was the country’s capital of hot and spicy food.

The city is east of Tibet, about 2000km west of Shanghai, and has a population of about 21 million.

Auckland’s other flights to China include routes with Air China to Beijing, Air New Zealand and China Eastern to Shanghai, and China Southern to Guangzhou.

The other routes are with Hainan Airlines to Shenzhen in southeast China and Haikou on Hainan island, off China’s south coast.

And from Christmas Day, China Eastern will operate a Shanghai-Auckland-Buenos Aires journey twice a week.

The airport has said the Argentina flight should help address a gap in direct capacity between New Zealand and South America, which last month was down 46% compared to the pre-Covid era.

Other routes are to technology centre Hangzhou via Sydney on China Eastern, and to Chongqing on Hainan Airlines.

In July, overseas visitor arrivals from China were down 3700 from a year earlier.

Last month, Stats NZ announced a record 730,000 trips were made by New Zealand residents to Asia in the year to June 30.

The agency said that was mainly driven by more trips to Indonesia, China, Japan and India.

John Weekes is a business journalist covering aviation. He has previously covered consumer affairs, crime, politics and courts.