Cantabrians, hold on to your passports: the first direct flight between the South Island and United States is launching later this year.
In what United Airlines is calling a "historic" move, a service between Christchurch and San Francisco will be hitting the skies from December 1, 2023, allowing South Islanders to travel direct to the US for the first time.
The service will run three times per week on United Airlines' Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner.
The airline's expansion will mark a new schedule of nonstop flights across Australia and Aotearoa, with a direct service from Los Angeles to Auckland on a 787-9 also slated for October 28.
The airline is also building up its services from both San Francisco and Los Angeles to Brisbane, and will be utilising its largest plane to fly between San Francisco and Melbourne.
In a statement on Tuesday (local time), the carrier said it will be expanding to 66 weekly flights between the US and the two countries, amounting to a 40 percent increase in flights from last year. The schedule also equates to about 75 percent more seats to Australia and Aotearoa than the same season of 2019.
Announcing the changes on AM on Wednesday morning, Christchurch-based reporter Mitch Redman couldn't contain his excitement.
"If anyone from United Airlines is watching, my passport is just gathering dust so I'll quite happily jump across there," he joked.
Watch the segment above.
