New Zealand will be opening “to international travelers from visa-waiver countries, including the United States, beginning May 1, without any quarantine measures” according to AFAR.

This is great news for those looking to travel to the country since it was originally planning to reopen in October. Now there’s more exciting news from Air New Zealand.

The airline announced that they will start flying direct flights from Auckland to New York, starting on September 17!

AFAR reports that, “the new route will be offered three times a week on its Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft“.

This will be the first time ever that a flight will fly direct between New York and New Zealand. The direct flight will make the trip a bit shorter but still a very long journey.

The flights will take 17 hours and 35 minutes on the southbound trip, making it the fourth longest flight in the world. The northbound trip will be a bit shorter at 16 hours.

Air New Zealand will also be staring to fly other nonstop routes to other destinations in the US including San Francisco, Honolulu and Houston.

We visited New Zealand years back and would love to visit again. Being that we live in Brooklyn, NY, I’m definitely interested in these new direct flights to JFK.

Find out more from AFAR here.