Kiwi expats rejoice: Emirates Airlines is set to start flying direct from Dubai to Auckland from March 1. This new path to New Zealand will be one of the world’s longest flights. (Sweet as bro.)

The direct route will decrease flying time by around three hours each way (which is great news for New Zealanders, who almost always have to spend days rather than hours getting home).

The flight will be a little under 16 hours from Dubai to Auckland, and will take 17 hours and 15 minutes on the way back. It will be on a Boeing 777-200 LR.

The new service is on top of the existing routes to New Zealand via Australia, and mean that Emirates now flies 2,000 seats per day to New Zealand (in each direction).

It is thought that around 4,000 New Zealanders live in the UAE.

The pricing is subject to booking time, but when we tried to book the flight via the Emirates site today for mid-May travel, it came in at Dhs7,285 return (with taxes included).

Lower oil prices are part of the reason the new flight is happening, as they’re making long haul routes more feasible.

The longest long haul flight in the world will soon be Dubai to Panama City, which will take 17 hours and 35 minutes and will start from March 31. This will soon be usurped, however, if Qatar Airways’ plans to fly to New Zealand go ahead: a flight from Doha to Auckland will take 18 hours and 34 minutes. When that route will start has yet to be announced.

One thing’s for sure, Murray from Flight of The Conchords would be stoked about the developments: murray

FAST FACTS ABOUT AUCKLAND

– It’s not New Zealand’s capital, but it is its largest city with a population of 1.37 million (there are 4.471 million people in NZ).

– It’s dubbed the ‘City of Sails’ because it has been widely claimed that the population of Auckland own more boats per person than in any other city in the world.

– The latest Mercer Quality of Living survey ranked Auckland as the third most liveable city in the world.

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Photos: Getty & supplied.