Air route hopes hit

Press, 4 August 1983, Page 1

Air route hopes hit

From

BRUCE ROSCOE

in Tokyo The Japanese Ministry of Transport yesterday rejected a New Zealand Government request for a new interpretation of the bilateral civil aviation agreement which would permit Air New Zealand to put more seats on the popular Auckland-Tokyo route. Japanese officials called the New Zealand Ambassador to Japan, Mr Graeme Ansell, to the Ministry at 3 p.m. to inform him that there were procedural complications with the request submitted by the Embassy to the Ministry on July 25. Japanese civil aviation sources close to the talks described the proposed interpretation of the agreement as “too broad.” They said the treaty would have to be formally revised at Government-to-Government talks either in Tokyo or Wellington in order to accommodate the new interpretation.

The talks would need to be initiated by the New Zealand Government, since it sought the interpretation. Under the present memorandum of understanding pertaining to the treaty,

Japan Air Lines and Air New Zealand each are entitled to a yearly seating capacity equivalent to three DCBs a week on the Auck-land-Tokyo run. The rejection has delivered a body blow to Air New Zealand’s plans to put an extra jumbo 747 on the route from mid-November to mid-March, the peak season for Japanese travellers to New Zealand, especially honeymooners. Japan Air Lines has an advantage over Air New Zealand under the present scheduling, and the New Zealand Government believes that in seeking the new interpretation it was asking only for what it was entitled to.

Japan Air Lines now runs two DClOs a week and Air New Zealand one jumbo 747. Because Air New Zealand no longer flies DCBs or DClOs on long-haul routes, it can make up the extra capacity to which it is entitled only by adding a jumbo 747 for some months of the year. According to confidential airline information. Air New Zealand specifically planned to route a jumbo 747 from Auckland to Tokyo from mid-November at midnight on Sunday (New Zealand time). This routing would allow the plane to arrive at Tokyo on the Monday and return to Auckland the same day.

It was believed essential to leave Tokyo on the Monday to win a larger share of the Japanese honeymoon traffic, since the weddings are held usually on Saturday or Sunday. Japan Air Lines has captured the bigger share of this traffic since one of its DClOs leaves Tokyo on a Monday.

It was also of vital importance for Air New Zealand to begin Sunday midnight departures as soon as possible in order to carry fresh New Zealand agricultural perishable produce, such as cut flowers, fruit and vegetables and fish, to Tokyo and land it on the Monday when quarantine inspectors are at work. The present scheduling of Air New Zealand’s 747, leaving New Zealand on a Friday night and arriving on a Saturday morning in Tokyo, is unsatisfactory for perishables since the inspectors finish work at midday. The perishables have had to be sent to Honolulu via Air New Zealand or Japan Air Lines and then transshipped to Tokyo via Japan Air Lines.

According to Ministry sources, the rejection means that Air New Zealand will now need to file a new application with the Ministry for permission to route a 747 jumbo from November to March. Because of the lengthy governmental procedural requirements, it is unlikely that the permis-

sion will be received in time to start the much-needed flight.

The New Zealand Government, in its documents submitted to the Japanese Ministry, proposed three new interpretations of the three DCB flights a week agreement. The first interpretation stipulated that Air New Zealand would continue to route one jumbo 747 for 12 months of the year and another jumbo for six months. The second was that it would use a 747 for nine months and a DCIO for 12 months. The third, a 747 for 12 months and a DCIO for eight months. All of these combinations, the New Zealand Government argued, were the equivalent of three DCBs a week and therefore compatible with the original memorandum of understanding. Japanese officials, however, could not agree on procedural points. The combinations proposed by New Zealand were agreed to in talks between Japan Air Lines and Air New Zealand in Hong Kong on June 21 and June 22.

A Japan Air Lines spokesman in Tokyo, Mr Geoffrey Tudor, said: “Japan Air Lines has no objection to an increase in frequency by Air New Zealand in the form of a second jumbo per week on the route for four months in the Japanese winter.” According to the New Zealand Government Tourist Office in Tokyo, in the year ended March, 1983,

28,848 Japanese visited New Zealand, an increase of 12.95 per cent over the year before. This was achieved while the Japanese travel market was growing at less than 2 per cent a year. Japanese aviation officials recognise that the market is growing for New Zealand and that there is a need for more seats on the route. They emphasise, however, that additional flights must be inaugurated under the correct procedure. The large volume of Japanese traffic to New Zealand has meant that many travellers are having to go via Singapore or Sydney on carriers other than Air New Zealand. Tokyo travel agencies complain that the Air New Zealand flight to Auckland is often full of Fiji-bound traffic. They say they have had to .turn down potential customers because of a lack of seats.

To alleviat this, Air New Zealand is believed by airline sources to want to route the additional jumbo directly to Auckland, missing out the Fiji stopover, which would make the flight more attractive by shortening it by at least an hour. Japanese aviation sources see no difficulty in accommodating an Air New Zealand jumbo leaving Auckland at midnight on Sunday. They say there would be a time and place slot at the new Tokyo International Airport between 11.30 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Mondays, the day the jumbo would turn round and depart for Auckland.