After a three year gap, Air New Zealand plans to resume direct flights to Osaka, Japan.
Osaka is returning to the Air NZ route network in November 2016 and will operate three times a week seasonally until March 2017.
The 11-hour flight will be operated by Boeing 767-300 aircraft.
"With this new seasonal offering, paired with our ten times weekly service between Auckland and Tokyo on the 787-9 Dreamliner, we’re confident that we can meet the growing demand for travel to and from Japan. It is our fifth largest tourism market and visitor numbers to New Zealand from Japan were up 7.6% for the year end December 2015," said Stephen Jones, Air NZ chief strategy, networks and alliances officer.
The airline originally halted Osaka flights in 2013, opting instead to concentrate on the Tokyo Narita route.
Since then air traffic on New Zealand-Japan routes has grown significantly.
