Christchurch Flies Hong Kong Again Today

This afternoon you can leave the South Island for Hong Kong without changing planes in Auckland. Cathay Pacific’s seasonal service is back. Flight CX126 is due out of Christchurch at 2:20 p.m. and into Hong Kong around 8:50 tonight. The return leaves Hong Kong at 8:40 p.m. and reaches Christchurch just before 1 p.m. the next day.

In November and March the route is three times a week—Monday, Thursday, and Saturday out of Christchurch. From December through February, Cathay adds Friday and Sunday, and most of those flights are on an Airbus A350-1000. The season runs through March 27.

Hong Kong starts today. Tokyo is still three and a half weeks away.

The board was already busy before Cathay showed up. Singapore Airlines flies Christchurch every day, year-round, and puts on extra summer flights—three a week for most of the season, five in the peak. In the peak weeks there can be as many as twelve Singapore Airlines departures.

Air New Zealand joined that corridor on October 28, the first wide-body between the two cities in six years, and has said the service will stay year-round. Three times a week a Boeing 787-9 leaves Christchurch at 5:05 p.m. and is into Singapore at 10:40. The return leaves Singapore at 12:30 a.m. and lands in Christchurch in the middle of the afternoon.

China Southern has been daily to Guangzhou since October 26, through March 27. From December 2 through February 19 it adds morning and evening flights and takes the route up to as many as ten a week. Until then, the overnight is the one you can count on.

Tokyo is the missing piece. Air New Zealand’s first Christchurch departure for Narita is Saturday, November 28: NZ51 at 12:35 p.m., into Narita at 8:10 that evening. Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays on a 787-9, through May 8. Japan gets a flight the evening before, on Friday the 27th. The airline’s Japan site still lists the route as needing government approval.

You do not have to wait for it. From Hong Kong, Singapore, or Guangzhou you can already land in Christchurch and start the South Island the same day you clear bags. Queenstown is a short domestic hop after that. If you want Japan on the way home, leave the return open until November 28 is locked—arrive on a hub that is flying now, leave Narita once the approval holds.

Buy the Hong Kong seat if those dates are your trip. Leave Tokyo off the ticket until the approval is confirmed.