Air Tahiti Nui denies plans for longest commercial flight

3:21 pm on 30 January 2019

Air Tahiti Nui says a translation error was behind a report that the airline was planning to launch non-stop flights between French Polynesia and France.

Air Tahiti Nui's new jet, a Boeing Dreamliner, in Tahiti

Photo: Supplied

The head of the company issued a statement formally denying such a plan.

This comes a week after a US publication Airways Magazine quoted the carrier's CEO Michel Monvoisin as saying Air Tahiti Nui was thinking about such a service, using a Boeing 787-9.

Mr Monvoisin said such a direct flight would beat the Singapore to Newark service in terms of time and distance.

The Papeete to Paris route is currently flown via Los Angeles which he said was not a comfortable stop-over for the airline's French passengers.

He said the Papeete to Los Angeles is Air Tahiti Nui's best route, accounting for almost half of its incoming traffic.

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