At 6:37 p.m. on Thursday, an Airbus A330-200 aircraft of Air China (CA) touched down at Auckland International Airport (AKL), marking its first ever flight to New Zealand.

The A330 aircraft, Registration B-5932, performed flight CA783 departed from Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK) at 1: 02a.m. The return flight from Auckland departs at 8:00 p.m. and takes about 13.5 hours.

This is the first time Air China has flown to New Zealand, a route it is servicing with an Airbus A330-200 in an alliance with Air New Zealand.

Air New Zealand instead focused on its Auckland to Shanghai route which it flies daily using a Boeing 787-9.