Surprisingly, I see that Christchurch, the third city of New Zealand, has non-stop flights to San Francisco, currently its only North American destination. I wonder (as a feeder to the NZ South Island), it would work from YVR. (Probably not a big enough market, but a lot of Kiwis from all over NZ live in Vancouver). Just being optimistic.
https://www.flightconnections.com/fl...ristchurch-chc