Sichuan Airlines' first flight has arrived in Auckland just on 45 minutes early.
The near-new Airbus A330 touched down just after 6pm from the Sichuan capital Chengdu and its three-flights-a-week service adds to 39 services linking New Zealand to the Chinese mainland.
The province is in the south-west of China and has a population of around 87 million.
Transport Minister Simon Bridges New Zealand was in a strong position to attract airlines, with a liberal international air transport policy that allowed most major airlines to operate services to New Zealand without restriction