American Airlines has announced it will start new nonstop Dreamliner flights from its Los Angeles hub to Auckland, New Zealand.
From June 2016 the carrier will fly daily on the route, which is currently served only by Air New Zealand.
"It’s fantastic service on Air New Zealand, a service we’re going need to make sure we can compete with," said American Airlines’ CEO Doug Parker.
"It will be a nice competition. The winner here will be consumers. Growth in the Asia-Pacific region is critically important to American."
The route forms part of American’s joint-venture with Qantas.
Parker said trans-pacific is a growing market especially for US customers.
"This is a growing route. As we add service we will bring more people to the market and the fact is the vast majority of the customers on the American Airlines flight will originate in the United States."
