Air New Zealand (NZ, Auckland International) is planning to make its South American debut on December 1 of this year with a 3x weekly return flight between Auckland International and Buenos Aires Ministro Pistarini, Argentina. The flights are on-board B777-200(ER) aircraft.

Air New Zealand will enter into a code share agreement with Aerolineas Argentinas, subject to New Zealand and Argentine regulatory approvals, which will see Aerolíneas Argentinas (AR, Buenos Aires Jorge Newbery) place its code on the route as well as on key connecting Trans-Tasman services, while Air New Zealand will place its "NZ" flightcode on Aerolíneas Argentinas’ services to São Paulo Guarulhos and Rio de Janeiro International in Brazil.

Currently, the Australasia-South America market is dominated by LAN Airlines (Santiago de Chile) which operates a daily return service from Sydney Kingsford Smith via Auckland and Santiago de Chile using an A340-300. This, however, will switch to a B787-9 later in the year. Qantas (QF, Sydney Kingsford Smith) also operates four weekly B747-400 services linking Sydney and Santiago non-stop.