Air (NOT) New Zealand

Too bad if you live near and use the airports at Kaitaia, Whakatane and Westport! Bastards.

I thought of you when I saw this evenings news. Not good and a road trip is such a long long way, even to Whangarei.
Commiserations Ruth, but OH has been an engineer with them for almost 37 years, and next year he is being made redundant when they close the workshops. I'm not pleased with that either.

Apparently these cuts will allow them to keep airfares down for everyone else. How nice for them.

Sorry about your own involvement.

Actually it may not be a bad thing...air nz cut out out a lot of the smaller local operators like West Coast Air..by taking a chunk of their business. Now maybe some of the smaller operators can get a foothold and they are more responsive to passenger need not big airline timetables .

I couldn't understand from the news when they said it was costing an extra $50 odd per person to operate the flights, why didn't they just increase the airfare and still maintain a service?

Our Prime Minister, minister of tourism and all, thinks this isn't a bad thing.

Those who have had to travel to Kerikeri to catch better-timed flights (and who have the resources to do so, I must add) have said it won't make much difference to them.

Those of us who've often travelled south the night before a meeting or engagement, now have fewer options. I don't have the time or inclination to travel the hour and a half to Kerikeri and if I'm being dropped off there, which would be the usual thing in a one-vehicle household, my partner will have to do six hours on the road for every trip I need to do away. Thus flying will require only two hours' less driving than driving all the way to Auckland.

For those who travel to Auckland periodically, usually at short notice and using the highest fares, for medical treatment, this creates a real welfare deficit. If you're on chemo or radio-therapy, having to add eight hours' driving will make a real difference. This removes another lifeline which made living so remotely a little less dangerous.

It is already the case that living remotely may shorten your life simply because you can't get medical treatment when you need it. This adds yet another barrier.

Last evening I sent a comment via the Air(Not)NZ feedback form:
"I am shocked and extremely disappointed that you intend cancelling your Kaitaia service. It is an oft-used lifeline for many of us who cannot, for various reasons, face a road-trip of length to Auckland and beyond. Air New Zealand? Not any more! Only the other bits of the country."

Their response so far:
"Thank you for your email regarding Air New Zealand's Regional Review.
I have referred this to our Customer Relations department for follow up and response.

Your feedback is important to Air New Zealand and our Customer Relations team will do their very best to respond to you as soon as possible.

Yours sincerely
(Name)

Direct Sales
Air New Zealand"

My dh is a pilot with one of their other regional carriers. All the Eagle pilots (the guys losing their jobs) are upset, especially the guys that committed themselves to the company for years. It's a joke that the company will offer them other jobs, there are no other jobs and if they are, they'll be starting from the bottom pay scale from day 1 again.
The company needs some strong regional competition again... I know a bunch of pilots...

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I really appreciate a company that shows corporate civil and moral responsibility, not like Telecom. This puts Air NZ into the same class of robbers as Telecom.
I really appreciate a company that encourages and assists smaller companies to do the jobs that smaller companies can do better than large ones. Air NZ, your past management has been reprehensible. Why are you continuing in that manner?
Air NZ, I used to be proud of "our" company. I now feel very bitter. Should I forget that I do not wish to be part of your immoral rort, please do not permit me to book a flight with your Company.
PS. Feel free to pass part or all of this message on to Air NZ.

Seem to recall that AirNZ did a corporate raid on some of those small companies a few years back

Sunair Aviation from Tauranga is planning to take on serving Kaitaia and Whakatane from next April.

A response just now:

Dear Mrs Myname

Thank you for your feedback regarding the recent announcements about our regional network. I regret to hear of your disappointment with our decision to cease services operating from Kaitaia.

Air New Zealand recently completed a comprehensive review of its regional airline model. This review was driven by the poor operating economics of the airline's 19 seat turbo-prop fleet, the significant economies of scale available from our 50 and 68 seat turbo-prop fleets, and customer feedback about high airfare prices on the regional routes we operate. The 19 seat aircraft is the smallest in Air New Zealand's fleet but has the highest per seat operating cost, partly because fixed costs are distributed across so few passengers. Eagle Airways, which operates this fleet has been losing more than $1 million per month for more than two years - the equivalent of losing $26 on every one way ticket sold.

In order to address this, Air New Zealand has been moving to operate larger turbo-prop aircraft on routes where demand is able to support the additional capacity. However, some routes such as Kaitaia are so economically challenged that they are unable to support the current 19 seat air services let alone a move to larger capacity aircraft and unfortunately we can no longer continue to operate these.

Rest assured the decision to make these changes was not taken lightly and we appreciate the news is disappointing for some communities like Kaitaia. However, these changes will lead to a much stronger and economically sustainable regional airline service in the future delivering the best possible access, frequency and pricing we can for our customers.

Mrs Myname thank you once again for taking the time to provide us with your feedback.

Kind regards,
Zara

I do not know to which of my own relatives she has married me. And am I resting assured? What do you reckon?

Dear Zara,

Firstly, congratulations on adding insult to injury. I have never identified myself as Mrs and I strongly object to your doing so.

"Rest assured ... these changes will lead to a much stronger and economically sustainable regional airline service in the future"; are you serious? You're not offering a service to my region. I am not assured of anything other than greater barriers to my access to the rest of the country. You consign us, as does our Prime Minister, to a regional backwater. Adding six hours road travel to any trip I need to take (a one-vehicle family must take a passenger to the airport and then return to collect) makes air travel entirely impracticable. Indeed the travel time added to get from home to Kerikeri airport would negate any advantage in time and cost of air travel if one is going to Auckland. Thus you provide no real service, even by that option.

Many of us operate businesses with loss-making aspects, but continue to support those sectors in the interests of the service we provide as a whole. That your company, one many of us have held as "our own" for decades, would cast some of us aside in such a manner is disgusting, particularly in light of your company's overall profit status.

You have no right to the name under which you continue to operate. New Zealand does not end at Kerikeri.

Yours sincerely,
Me.

$26 per ticket loss, why didn't they just up the price and let the people decide for themselves?

Bearing in mind the overall profit, how could it actually matter very much at all? There's cross-subsidisation in many areas to ensure service provision and customer loyalty.