Air fares

Press, 3 February 1979, Page 12

Air fares

Sir, — In “The Press,” today on the page next to William A. Newman’s very interesting comment on air fares, you publish a list of comparable tourist costs in most of the capital cities in the world, including Wellington. New Zealand gives excellent value for each dollar spent, with one exception — air fares. What is wrong? Why are we so determined to stop tourism in New Zealand with high air fares? — Yours, etc..

M. R. CARTER. February 1, 1979.

Sir, — Fares, it is agreed, are crazy, and generally too high. New Zealanders seem scarcely to realise how high, particularly within New Zealand. The “ordinary,” economy, one-way fare, for an adult, from Christchurch to Sydney, is $l6O. (I make no inclusion of or reference to

a tax any civilised government would be ashamed to levy). The passenger travels (airport-to-airport, great circle track) 13.28 kilometres for each New Zealand dollar spent. Most passengers travel, perhaps, on Epic two-way fares. These, if halved, give 18.97km/dollar. Both fares are abnormally high by world standards. The aircraft are pretty fully booked. The Christchurch-Auckland fare of $64 gives 11.41km/dollar. It therefore costs 1.66 times as much to go to Auckland as it does to Sydney on Epic. Little comment is needed. — Yours, A. R. CRAWFORD. February 1, 1979.