Air New Zealand is pulling out of its seasonal Tokyo to Christchurch service later this year.

The airline will instead concentrate on its existing year round daily service from Tokyo's Narita Airport to Auckland which will be operated by the airline's new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft from the end of August.

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The cost of operating to Christchurch with 787 aircraft was also "significantly higher" than Auckland because of the extra distance and the cost involved in positioning the aircraft in Auckland to continue operating its scheduled services.

This is because the 787 cannot operate out of the Auckland domestic terminal which means the positioning flight cannot be operated as a scheduled domestic service.

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