Emirates is celebrating 15 years of successful operations to Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city. Since its inaugural flight in 2003, Emirates has carried over 2 million passengers to and from Auckland, connecting New Zealand to the world, with 21 flights a week to Dubai, Bali and beyond.

Emirates began its services to Auckland with daily flights via Sydney and Melbourne and, later, Brisbane. In 2009, the award-winning airline introduced its iconic A380 aircraft to the route, providing a revolutionary double-decker aircraft to transport passengers between Auckland, Sydney and Emirates’ cosmopolitan hub, Dubai. The operations were further enhanced a few years later with the A380 operating all Auckland flights via Melbourne and Brisbane. Today, Emirates operates a daily A380 non-stop flight from Auckland to Dubai as well as a new daily B777-300 ER service via Bali, Indonesia.

With the launch of the new Dubai-Auckland-Bali route in June, Emirates became the only airline offering daily, year-round flights to Bali, providing New Zealanders with greater choice and flexibility when booking their island holiday. Emirates also serves New Zealand with a daily A380 flight between Christchurch and Dubai via Sydney.

“We’re thrilled to be celebrating 15 years of flying into Auckland which has become an important part of Emirates’ success story in the region. We would like to thank all our customers and industry partners in New Zealand for their long-standing support over the years. We are proud to contribute to the city’s thriving tourism and trade industry, connecting Auckland to more than 160 destinations across six continents with only one stop in Dubai,” said Thierry Antinori, Emirates’ executive vice president and chief commercial officer

Emirates SkyCargo has uplifted over 85,000 tonnes of cargo to and from Auckland in the last three years, carrying goods such as fresh fruits and vegetables, fish, pharmaceuticals and equipment. The freight division remains a major airfreight operator in New Zealand offering more than 55 tonnes of belly-hold capacity each day. In 2017, Emirates Skycargo successfully transported ‘New Zealand Aotearoa’ – Emirates Team New Zealand’s race boat - from Auckland to Bermuda in advance of the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup sailing competition.

Emirates has recently won two top awards in New Zealand at the annual Roy Morgan Customer Satisfaction Awards. The airline has taken the title of ‘international Airline of the Year’ as well as the ‘Best of the Best’ for 2017, coming out on top of all other 21 category winners with the highest customer satisfaction of any company operating in New Zealand. - TradeArabia News Service