Chicago O’Hare International airport (ORD) will join the 5-continent club this fall with new nonstop service to Auckland, New Zealand. The press release for this flight was published by United, which operates a joint venture agreement with Star Alliance partner Air New Zealand. The flight will be flown on Air New Zealand metal, with a 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft on a thrice-weekly basis.
In conjunction, United will extend its existing San Francisco-Auckland flight from seasonal to year-round. United presently flies from SFO to Auckland between November and March using a 777-300ER, and moving forward, will adhere to this same plan, but down-gauge to a 777-200ER between April and October during the off-peak season.
United and Air New Zealand have been in a joint venture revenue-sharing agreement since March 2016, which allows them to coordinate sales and marketing efforts on flights between the U.S. and New Zealand. This was announced in tandem with the launch of Air New Zealand’s route to Houston several years ago, which was its first foray into the U.S. mainland east of the Rockies. Elsewhere in the U.S., Air New Zealand flies to San Francisco and Los Angeles, as well as to Honolulu, HI. It also flies to Vancouver, B.C.
Chicago to Join the 5-Continent Club
There are four global airports that serve five continents (excluding the one it resides in): London Heathrow, which became official on Saturday when Qantas launched a nonstop flight from Perth to London, Johannesburg, Doha, and Dubai. In theory, Houston has or has had at one point, service to all five continents, but its twice-weekly service on SonAir to Luanda will discontinue on March 28. United also operated a nonstop flight from Houston to Lagos for several years, which ended in 2016.
With the addition of Air New Zealand and Ethiopian’s June launch of Chicago – Addis Ababa (the outbound from ADD will make a technical stop in Dublin) Chicago will have nonstop service to all six continents, officially. Interestingly, three of them will only feature one market (Sao Paulo in South America, Addis Ababa in Africa, and Auckland in Oceania).
The Chicago – Auckland flight is expected to last 16 hours on the southbound (ORD-AKL) sector, and 15 hours on the northbound (AKL-ORD) sector. Air New Zealand’s 787-9’s can carry up to 302 passengers, with 18 seats in Business Premier, 21 seats in Premium Economy, and 263 seats in Economy.
Per Air New Zealand’s website, the specs on the 787-9 can be viewed in greater detail. Worth noting is that Air New Zealand’s innovative SkyCouch product will be offered on this flight in several rows, which is a nice competitive advantage that ANZ will offer to interested customers on such a long flight.
Chicago O’Hare airport will be undergoing a massive renovation and expansion project during the next few years, and the plan calls for increased gate space at Terminal 5, where currently most international arrivals depart and arrive. The flight times are currently scheduled to depart from Auckland during the evenings on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays and arrive in Chicago at 4:15 P.M. on the same day. Return flights will depart Chicago at 7:10 PM and arrive into Auckland at 6:30 AM two days later. Per United’s press release, the departure times will follow the pattern below based on time of year/daylight savings.
|
Flight No. |
Operated by |
Aircraft type |
Departs |
Arrives |
Effective dates |
Frequency |
|
NZ26 (UA6728) |
Air New Zealand |
Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner |
Auckland 20:10 |
Chicago 16:15 |
30 Nov 2018 – 8 Mar 2019 |
Wed, Fri, Sun |
|
NZ26 (UA6728) |
Air New Zealand |
Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner |
Auckland 20:10 |
Chicago 17:15 |
10 Mar 2019 – 29 Mar 2019 |
Wed, Fri, Sun |
|
NZ27 (UA6727) |
Air New Zealand |
Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner |
Chicago 19:10 |
Auckland 06:30+2 |
30 Nov 2018 – 8 Mar 2019 |
Wed, Fri, Sun |
|
NZ27 (UA6727) |
Air New Zealand |
Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner |
Chicago 20:10 |
Auckland 06:30+2 |
10 Mar 2019 – 29 Mar 2019 |
Wed, Fri, Sun |
The schedule is perfectly-timed for connections on both the Chicago and Auckland ends to facilitate transfers, and the partnership between both carriers will indeed allow seamless ticketing, frequent flier integration, reciprocal lounge access, and other elite benefits.
Of course, this also means that the list of the world’s longest flights will once again change in 2018.
