Qatar Airways will fly from Christchurch to Paris in another of the repatriation flights around the world during the coronavirus crisis.
The airline will fly a Boeing 777-300 via Perth and then on to Christchurch where it will pick up stranded French nationals wanting to return to France.
Themercy flight has been organised by the French Embassy in New Zealand.
It is the first time Qatar Airways has flown to Christchurch and will make one of the longest flights in the world back to Doha to refuel and on to Paris.
The airline has been operating scheduled flights between Doha and Auckland since 2017 and in the past few weeks has stepped up capacity as other airlines have quit flying here.
It is now one of the few airlines still operating scheduled services around the globe and says it is taking extra steps to keep crew and passengers safe but has come under fire for charging extra-high prices on some services.
The repatriation flight leaves Doha today and will depart from Christchurch on Thursday.
The Boeing 777-300ER has 24 seats in Business Class and 388 seats in Economy.
''The airline is working with governments around the world to maintain a strong schedule of flights, and organising charter flights where needed. We will continue to monitor the travel market closely, and wherever possible reinstate flights in line with passenger demand.''
Christchurch Airport and Auckland International Airport have seen Lufthansa Boeing 747s and Airbus A380s operate repatriation flights for thousands of German tourists stranded here. Air New Zealand has been commissioned by the German and Dutch governments to fly repatriation services.
Some other airlines which have not been seen in this country before include Germany's Condor, Swiss International and Austrian.
Across the Pacific Air Tahiti Nui has been breaking records with non-stop Dreamliner flights from Pape'ete to Paris.
• This corrects an earlier story which based on information from Qatar Airways stated the flight would stop in Perth to pick up passengers before heading to Christchurch. The flight will arrive in NZ with crew only.
