At the China Business Summit in Auckland, Air New Zealand Chief Executive Officer Greg Foran announced that Air New Zealand and Air China have extended their strategic alliance partnership on services between New Zealand and China for a further five years.
According to Foran, this extension will help New Zealand rebuild: "China is an incredibly important market for Aotearoa and for Air New Zealand. The renewal of our strategic cooperation with Air China will be a vital boost for our tourism industry as it recovers from the severe impact of COVID-19.“
"Our alliance with Air China has delivered, and will continue to deliver, real benefit to New Zealand - including greater choice, extra seats and more flights into New Zealand. It's a great example of how we can build sustainable air connectivity to and from New Zealand."
Foran told the summit that although COVID-19 has affected passenger travel, the trade and business cooperation between China and New Zealand has remained relatively stable. Pre-pandemic, China was New Zealand's second-largest international visitor market (450,000 in 2019) and one of the most valuable in terms of holiday visitor spend ($1.5 billion).
Source: voxy.co.nz
Photo source: Dreamstime.com