“A bed levy makes even more sense now,” Brown said. “Watch this come across the line.”
On the air route, he said: “This trade link is a direct result of efforts of myself, Minister Todd McClay, and Auckland Airport - our advocacy to remove the transit visa for Chinese nationals, which was not helpful.”
Since last month, Chinese nationals have been able to transit through on a New Zealand Electronic Travel Authority (NZeTA), without having to apply for a separate transit visa.
“Auckland sits at the crossroads of the people and trade of Asia-Pacific,” Brown added.
Return flights
The flights will depart Shanghai every Monday and Thursday.
The return journey, MU746, will leave Buenos Aires every Tuesday and Friday at 2am, transit in Auckland for two hours, then land in Shanghai 29 hours after leaving Argentina.
Auckland Airport said the new, twice-weekly service positioned it as a strategic transit point linking Asia and South America.
The airport said the service was the first direct route between New Zealand and Argentina since 2020.
China Eastern first flew to New Zealand in 2014.
The airport said the new link should open opportunities for tourism, trade and cultural exchange.
‘Top of the list’
Scott Tasker, Auckland Airport chief customer officer, said airlines usually had a list of destinations they’d like to deploy their next available aircraft to.
“So really our job is to move Auckland and New Zealand to the top of the list,” he said today.
“You’re really saying, ‘look, maybe you’ve got a Dreamliner or an A350 or a 777 worth $200 million. And here are the reasons why you should fly it to our airport’.”
Tasker said with initial Shanghai-Auckland-Buenos Aires flights, about one-third of passengers who boarded in China were predicted to disembark in Auckland.
About 40,000 South Americans lived in New Zealand and Asian destinations were also increasingly popular for Kiwis, the airport said.
One in four international travellers, or 662,000 people, went to Asia in the past year, an increase of nearly 15%.
The airport said connectivity into China was growing after a time of disruption during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Air China, Air New Zealand, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Hainan Airlines and Sichuan Airlines now all fly direct from Auckland to mainland China.
China Eastern, headquartered in Shanghai, is one of three major state-owned Chinese airlines.
The other two are Beijing-based Air China, and Guangzhou-headquartered China Southern Airlines.
John Weekes is a business journalist covering aviation. He has previously covered consumer affairs, crime, politics and courts.
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