IN BRIEF | Air New Zealand will axe all flights between Auckland and Beijing mid-year, in favour of boosting flights to Shanghai.

The airline today revealed plans to close the twice-weekly direct service to the Chinese capital as of June 30.

The move will allow Air NZ to take its Auckland-Shanghai service to five days per week, with the aim of starting daily flights by March 2013, according to the NZ flag-carrier's International Airline Group General Manager, Christopher Luxon.

"We will focus our marketing and sales resources on the Shanghai region of around 14 million people as we seek to provide customers a daily service to and from this important gateway in China" Luxon said. "We are confident of the potential for long-term growth from one of China's most modern and populous cities."

Luxon attests that Air NZ still considers Beijing "an important and growing market", albeit one which will now be served via a codeshare Shanghai-Beijing flights with Star Alliance code-share partner Air China.