That he incurred the wrath of the cloistered hierarchy of Air New Zealand was, in my view, a badge of honour.
Air New Zealand has cut services from Whanganui to Auckland and from Blenheim to Christchurch direct.
They’ve stopped flights between Masterton and Auckland and from Wellington to Taupo, Westport and also to Kaitaia.
This is productive, provincial NZ that Air NZ is starving and Jones is right to question the airline and its motives.
The NZ Airports Association wrote to Jones in December saying support was needed for the airports in Kaitaia, Kerikeri, Whanganui, Whakatane, Whangarei, Taupo, Gisborne Masterton, Westport, Hokitika , Timaru and the Chathams.
That is a large part of our provincial heartland.
The cost of that support for all of those airports is estimated at $32 million over five years. On an annualised basis it is probably less than Air NZ splashed out bringing ex-president Obama to our shores for nothing more than glitz, glamour and tacky patronage.
The NZAA says air links are essential for regional economic growth, jobs, access to hospitals and social cohesion.
Local airports also have an essential civil defence role. They must maintain their key infrastructure to remain safe and reliable.
It is a no-brainer and congratulations to the NZAA for its research and Jones for taking the stand he did. That the Government received a snotty response from the Air NZ chairman tells me Jones is right on the money.
What further galls me is that where there’s competition from Jetstar the Air NZ provincial flights are cheap. Where there is no competition they are ridiculously expensive.
That tells me Air NZ is prepared to rape its monopoly provincial routes so it can subsidise those flights where it has competition.
With regards Jones’ statement I was astounded to read an amazingly arrogant response from Air NZ telling me it would always act independently of the Crown.
The Crown owns 51% of you; do as you’re told.
If the Government completely changed the board of Air NZ I would have no objection.
The issue I have is that the Air NZ position stifles provincial economic growth.
I read an Infometrics research paper about Air NZ’s opposition, Jetstar, and its contribution to the provincial economy.
Infometrics believes Jetstars’ operations boosted the economies of the four provincial regions it served by $40 million and that’s massive.
There are other benefits starting with the creation of 600 jobs as a result of the wealth generated by the Jetstar provincial service.
In addition, Jetstar employs an extra 100 people to support its provincial services.
The creation of 700 new jobs in the provinces is considerable and welcome, especially considering the dire warnings of the provinces becoming Zombie towns.
Add to that the creation of cheap flights enabling passenger numbers to grow by 27%.
Interestingly and a salutary lesson for Air NZ is that the Jetstar provincial service is profitable. It obviously does it better than Air NZ can.
Iniquitously, we had Air NZ chief executive Christopher Luxon bleating about the problems of inequality in NZ. His airline is certainly encouraging inequality in provincial NZ.
He also suggested a more strategic approach to some major issues facing NZ.
A strategic approach by Air NZ would be to provide a better air service to the provinces.
Mind you, since the Jones’ comments we’ve had Luxon tell us he is incredibly proud of the services to the provinces.
He then told us the reason he took issue with Jones was because “they were his opinions. They’re not actually consistent with the set of facts that we see.”
For the record I’m on the Jones’ side of that discussion.
Finally, we’re told by Luxon that NZ has one of the best regional networks in the world.
I’d hate to see the worst.
Tourism Industry Aotearoa chief executive Chris Roberts said the increase in regional capacity and lower air fares over the last year by Jetstar boosted domestic tourism to an estimated $20.2 billion annually.
That’s a considerable amount.
So Minister, I applaud your position and totally support it. The Government should require Air NZ to be a responsible citizen even if the board and management disagrees.
As taxpayers we’ve previously bailed the airline out so why not demand that it supports provincial NZ more than its doing.
Finally, I’ve had just one meeting with Jones and that was when we propped against each other on the rugby field. He was playing for the Parliamentary team and I was with the Mighty Wairarapa East Coast Wrinklies.
You know what the prophet said – never mess with a tight forward. Air NZ take note.
