N.Z.-Hong Kong air link

Press, 12 September 1986, Page 8

N.Z.-Hong Kong air link

PA Wellington Direct air services between New Zealand and Hong Kong will resume in December, the Minister of Civil Aviation, Mr Prebble, announced yesterday. The new service will be a joint venture between Air New Zealand and Cathay Pacific, with each carrier operating in alternate years. Cathay Pacific will begin the once-weekly service on December 4, 1986.

It will depart from Auckland at 3.30 p.m. on Thursdays. “New Zealand can expect considerable benefits in terms of tourism and trade from the reintroduction of the direct service,” Mr Prebble said. “In 1985 the value of New Zealand’s air cargo exports to Hong Kong was $32.4 million of which $B.B million came from perishable products such as meat, fish and fruit. “Exporters will be able to eliminate many of the

problems they now have as a result of having to trans-ship their produce, and I expect this new service will boost airfreight exports to Hong Kong.” One-plane services to Hong Kong were most recently operated via Port Moresby on a joint basis by Air New Zealand, Cathay Pacific and Air Niugini. These services ended at the beginning of 1985 when Air Niugini withdrew from the tripartite arrangement.