Air New Zealand has announced it is increasing its number of passenger flights between Auckland and Shanghai next month, upping weekly capacity on the route to 1200 seats.
From February 4, the airline will operate four passenger flights and two cargo flights per week to the Chinese city.
The passenger flights will depart Auckland on Monday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 11:50pm using Boeing 787 aircraft, arriving in Shanghai at 7.05am.
The announcement comes weeks after China ceased its quarantine requirements for all passengers arriving from outside of the country's borders on January 8.
China Eastern also flies a direct Auckland-Shanghai service.
Air NZ said its Shanghai flights have been particularly popular around the Lunar New Year.
"This will be the first Lunar New Year that Chinese living in Aotearoa can be reunited with their families for this special holiday," said Air NZ Chief Customer and Sales Officer Leanne Geraghty.
"We're seeing very strong demand across January for our flights into China. Most flights are full or close to full.
"With the addition of these new flights, we hope to make it even easier for New Zealanders to experience all that Shanghai has to offer and tap into the pent-up demand of Chinese tourists into New Zealand."
Air NZ said it is also flying around 500 tonnes of cherries to Shanghai and Taipei ahead of the Lunar New Year, as well as around 350 tonnes of fresh New Zealand seafood to Shanghai.
