Tianjin Airlines to launch AKL service
 

China's Tianjin Airlines to launch direct flights to Auckland
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Auckland will be the first Australasian destination for Tianjin Airlines.
Wikipedia Commons
Auckland will be the first Australasian destination for Tianjin Airlines.

China's Tianjin Airlines is launching a new service to New Zealand, with flights to begin operating in December.

The cities of Tianjin and Chongqing will be connected with Auckland three times a week using an A330 aircraft.

Auckland would be the first Australasian destination for the airline, Auckland Airport general manager Norris Carter said in a statement.

"Regional China is a rapidly developing source market for New Zealand tourism and these new routes flying directly to Auckland provide another option for Chinese visitors to experience New Zealand."

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It was estimated that the new service would add 83,000 seats to the China to Auckland route every year.

China is New Zealand's second biggest source of tourists after Australia. In the year ended May 2016, the number of Chinese visitors to New Zealand rose 27.4 per cent to 394,528.

With a population of more than 15 million people, Tianjin is the largest coastal city in northern China.

Chongqing is a major economic centre of the Yangtze basin and has population of more than 30 million people.

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Anyone read 'Flying Upside Down' lately? I hear they have great things to say about Tianjin... :}:}:}

Hopefully they have brought there own bus/stairs for use at AKL, we had to wait 35minutes for an gate on Sunday Night!

What great news......just a reminder though, this will in no way mean more Chinese residential property investment in AKL, all those property tours are your imagination, uncle Nick and uncle John said so...:E

Good news for the rest of the world; if they're visiting NZ then they're not infesting other places :ok:

There would be absolutely 0% chance of me travelling that route with Tianjin Airlines.....or any other Chinese airline, come to that.