Airline service criticised

Press, 4 September 1982, Page 6

Airline service criticised

Pa Auckland The Auckland-Hong Kong service of Air New Zealand is probably the most expensive per kilometre in the world, according to a Hong Kong trade leader. The executive director of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, Mr Leonard Dunning, yesterday criticised New Zealand's air links with the colony. He said that last year it had been cheaper for his son to fly to New Zealand via . London than to fly direct. He told Auckland business leaders at a conference arranged by his council that transport problems between the two countries were holding back the development of

trade and tourism.

Mr Dunning said that high fares might be good for Air New Zealand, but they might not be so healthy for New Zealand.

However, the New Zealand sales manager for Cathay Pacific, Mr David Figgins, said he believed matters would improve. ' Air New Zealand runs one service a week to Hong Kong with a DCIO, but from November it will enter a partnership with Cathay and Air Niugini to run a once-a-week Boeing 747 service between Hong Kong and Auckland via Port Moresby. Mr FigginS said he was optimistic about the future of air travel between New Zealand and Hong Kong.