Delta Air Lines to launch direct Los Angeles to Auckland service in October 2023

Delta Air Lines has announced that it will launch a new service to Auckland International Airport (AKL) from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) starting October 28, 2023.

This makes Delta the first North American airline to have direct flight services to New Zealand.

“LAX continues to grow its global network of destinations that are connecting Angelenos to every corner of the globe, and Delta’s addition of nonstop service from Los Angeles to New Zealand is in lockstep with the airline’s commitment to expand and improve service to our region,” Justin Erbacci, chief executive officer, Los Angeles World Airports said in a statement.

“Coupled with Delta’s international additions to Sydney and Tahiti, this is another exciting result of the ongoing and strong collaboration between LAX and Delta Air Lines as we connect more people across the Pacific and beyond,” Erbacci added.

The daily LAX-AKL service, which will be flown using Delta’s fleet of Airbus A350 aircraft, will operate on the following schedules:

DL65 departs Los Angeles at 22:30 local time, and arrives into Auckland at 08:35 local time
DL64 leaves Auckland at 15:00 and touches down at Los Angeles at 06:05 local time

The only other airline that offers a direct connection between Los Angeles and Auckland is Air New Zealand, on its Boeing 777 fleet.