Air New Zealand is looking into adding service at U.S. airports such as Denver and Houston, according to published reports.
But Denver and Colorado officials, while saying they would welcome such flights, said they can’t confirm Denver is on the carrier’s radar.
“We have not talked with (Air New Zealand),” Janet Fritz, spokeswoman for the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp., said Monday.
Similarly, DIA spokeswoman Laura Coale said such a development would be good news, but that she hadn’t heard about it.
“As part of our air service development, we continually have talks with airlines,” she said. “Expanding service remains a goal at DIA, but we don’t have any information about Air New Zealand.”
Aviation Week reported that Air New Zealand is considering new routes to North America in the wake of United Airlines dropping its plans to start Houston-Auckland service.
The New Zealand carrier earlier said it could introduce additional North American destinations when it starts receiving its Boeing 787s in 2014. But CEO Rob Fyfe told Aviation Week it now is looking at adding services before then, noting that cities such as Denver, Houston and Dallas are within range of its current Boeing 777 fleet.
Separately, Centre for Aviation, a news, analysis and research website and magazine for the global airline industry, reported that Air New Zealand’s short-term growth prospects are in North America, with ANZ evaluating service to destinations like Denver and Houston, hubs for Star Alliance partner United.
ANZ has flights to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Honolulu and Vancouver.
John Mossman: 303-954-1479 or jmossman@denverpost.com
