Interest in empty seats

Press, 31 March 1981, Page 25

Interest in empty seats

PA' Auckland The Aqua Avia Society is interested in making use of s. ,uc v. the empty seats on Air New Zealand domestic aircraf.. It wants to buy the seats fr< , New Zealand, at the right price,” and sell them to its members. The members would pay less than ordinary travellers.

Mr W. M. B. Thompson, who has now been appointed chief executive of the society — previously his appointment was, temporary — said last evening that the society planned to approach Air New Zealand and offer to take up any excess capacity it might have, “This will financmi’v

assist Air New Zealand,” he said.

He said there was a precedent for such an approach. The Railways Department sold space to freighting companies. It made good commercial sense, he said. Mr Thompson could not give any idea as to what society members would pay for domestic flights in comparison with existing ones. Much work still had to be done, he said. Mr Thompson; who earlier said- the-society planned to appeal against an- 11 per cent fare increase recently granted to Air New Zealand, said that with the increases the public would see the need to support an alterna-ct--h as the society.

The society, he said, believed that the recent 11 per cent fare increase would

dramatically affect the existing traffic and adversely affect potential traffic. “New Zealanders cannot afford to pay the horrendously high air fares and as a consequence New Zealand as a nation will become further divided,” he said. Air New Zealand’s general manager of corporate services, Mr G. W. Matheson, said last evening that' the airline would look, at any serious proposal that might improve the company’s profitability. However, he wondered how serious Mr Thompson was.