New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will take the national carrier’s first direct flight later this month from Auckland to New York, where she will attend the U.N. General Assembly.
Air New Zealand will launch the flight on Sept. 17. In March, it said the 17 1/2-hour service, among the world’s longest direct routes, was part of an effort to rebuild the nation’s tourism industry after it was decimated by the pandemic.
Ardern will host a meeting on targeting online hate speech — the Christchurch Call to Action Leader’s Summit — with France’s President Emmanuel Macron on Sept. 20.
